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A new Okanagan College program will help small and medium-sized businesses hire and train first-year apprentices.
The Okanagan College Apprentice Hiring Project will provide $5,000 to a business for each first-year apprentice it hires. Businesses will get $10,000 if that apprentice voluntarily chooses to identify as a person within one or more of the following equity-deserving groups: women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ2SI+ communities, newcomers and visible minorities.
“Apprenticeships provide the hands-on work experience that people need to pursue a career in skilled trades,” Okanagan College dean of trades and apprenticeship Stephen Speers said in a press release. “Employers play a key role in our training and certification system, but in today’s economy it can be difficult to find the additional resources to offer apprenticeship training and to build our regional workforce. This program helps address that challenge.”
The project received $3 million from the Government of Canada’s Apprenticeship Service. Eligible businesses are those with fewer than 500 employees.
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