Workforce Partnerships grants

Industry and sector provincewide projects

Alberta Food Processors Association
A first time (since 2005) labour market intelligence study and workforce plan focused specifically on Alberta’s food and beverage manufacturing sector. The study will also include strategies for the attraction, retention and talent development of skilled and semi-skilled workers.

Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association
Supports the development of a new Human Resources standard for hotels. The new standard will help raise the level of health & safety and human resource practices in Alberta hotels to better attract and retain talent. This project will also identify, develop & cultivate sources of labour and help hotels connect to this labour by hiring an in-house Workforce Specialist who will place workers in hotels that achieve or are in the process of achieving, the new HR designation.

Alberta Information and Communications Technology Council
Technology Alberta will secure approximately: an additional 100 Part-time positions at 100 Alberta Tech SME’s for an additional 100 Alberta job seekers, with the intent to, over time, have some of these jobs become permanent.

Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)
AI Week will connect tech talent with hiring companies and promote AI and Machine Learning as careers of choice.

Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA)
Led by in partnership with the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVMA). This project will develop and deliver a project to attract two streams of veterinarians: 1. Graduates (including Canadian graduating students) from accredited veterinary colleges and 2. Graduates of non-accredited veterinary colleges.  Project will research and target potential source countries such as the USA; Australia; Europe; South Africa; India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Project also includes career and professional accreditation and immigration pathway content hosted on an ABVMA portal, providing potential veterinarians with options to facilitate their immigration to Alberta. The two year project will then become self-sustainable, for future attraction endeavours. The findings from this project will also be used to build employer capacity to successfully onboard newcomer veterinarians for future requirements. 

Carbon Management Canada
Will promote occupations needed in CCUS and outline the labour demand while also educating general Albertans on CCUS's role in energy diversification. Awareness campaign will provide further information to energy and carbon emitting industry workers in relevant occupations who are interested in CCUS opportunities; new Canadians seeking to understand the CCUS industry and create a career in Canada; Indigenous workers looking to advance their career and expand their skillsets; youth and new entrants interested in opportunities in the cleantech industry; and community agencies supporting employment in regions with current  or emerging CCUS activity.

Calgary Economic Development
Project will develop and launch a digital portal for the attraction and retention of a diverse and skilled workforce in Alberta’s film and television industry. The digital platform will help industry effectively recruit, train and retain workers with direct links to province-wide training and industry opportunities. The platform will also support industry to develop and deliver diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with digital cross-departmental and standardized online DEI training courses such as "Unconscious Bias", "Anti Racism, "Inclusive Culture" and provide downloadable DEI resources.

Electricity Human Resources Canada
Project leverages existing ESDC funding for a National Labour Market Study to achieve a deep dive into Alberta’s Electricity sector workforce needs – without this funding, Alberta’s electricity sector workforce data would be aggregated with national data. LMI report will inform and improve Alberta’s electricity and renewable energy sector’s capability in workforce planning as we enter a new era of electricity generation. This allows stakeholders to identify emerging workforce needs, opportunities, and requirements across the industry as new priorities on clean growth and electrification change the human resources landscape.

Energy Safety Canada c/o PetroLMI Division
PetroLMI will work to expand the labour supply pool for entry-level jobs through: Research - labour demand and supply research which will identify regions where there is high labour demand and areas where labour supply can be accessed; Marketing - campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the sector within Alberta’s immigrant communities and Employment Connections - bringing together hiring companies and job-seekers through virtual industry awareness information sessions and in-person and/or virtual targeted hiring events.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)
A study to fill gaps by researching talent demand in core sub-sectors IDM and health-tech, and providing in-depth and timely information and forecasts on labour demand and supply across Alberta's digital economy in an era marked by disruptive macroeconomic forces, evolving workforces, and continuing mass digitization.

PolicyWise for Children and Families
This project will endeavour to understand factors related to systemic labour issues in the Food and Beverage sector, how the impacts of COVID have affected sector labour issues, and what practices are needed to create resilient workplaces and workforces for the future with a specific focus on newcomer youth. The findings from this project will ideally be replicable across other segments of the tourism sector.

ROA Gateways Corp. (Regional Oil Sands Alliance)
Maintenance and labour analysis will quantify the demand across Members in Alberta’s Oil Sands then work with Industry partners to analyze supply against critical trades. Once a concrete picture of supply and demand are understood, will identify critical gaps and strategies to address.

Women in Communications and Technology
Women in Communications and Technology’s workforce accelerator program will provide reverse mentoring and leadership development, within tech companies, for women in tech to champion the growth and development of inclusive workplaces in Alberta.

Regional projects

1884 Studios
1884 Studios’ “The Be Collective” project will provide the local film and television industry with best practice tools and resources to build capacity to address labour market gaps related to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce
The Bonnyville and St. Paul Business Support Network (BSN) and Employment Attraction & Retention Network (EARN) will host employer sessions to address workforce attraction, retention, diversity, inclusion, and training development.

Brooks Chamber of Commerce
The Power Up Brooks Conference will promote employee retention and workforce development by helping employers and workers learn how to move forward from the pandemic with health, resiliency, strength and energy.

Camrose and District Chamber of Commerce
The Strategies for Successful Employee Retention and Attraction employer workshop will provide a one day in-person workshop to regional business owners, managers, supervisors and job creators. Attendees will learn how to develop workers so they help grow the business, address productivity and performance management, and leave with practical strategies for employee attraction and retention.

Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP)
The Central Alberta Business Support Network (BSN) will provide a series of sessions to educate employers across Central Alberta on best practices in workforce retention and attraction and workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.

Chic Geek
The Women in Technology Talent Connector event will connect women in technology to companies seeking gender-diverse talent, with the goal of increasing the number of women candidates for technology employers.

The Circle of Red Deer Seniors Society (The Golden Circle Senior Resource Centre)
The Older Adults Employment Strategy Assessment will improve understanding of the barriers employers face in finding and accommodating older workers, as well as those older workers face seeking employment. The assessment results will include recommended services both employers and older job seekers need to improve attraction and retention of older workers.

City of Fort Saskatchewan
The Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Regional Labour Market Profile will undertake a labour study and employer survey to identify employment trends and skill gaps/surpluses, and will provide major employers with information on under-utilized labour pools. The study will recommend solutions to increase overall employment and employment opportunities in the region.

City of Medicine Hat
The Immigration-Focused Labour Market Profiles project will generate labour market data to educate employers, stakeholders and communities on the benefits of hiring newcomers while reducing barriers such as perceptions of lack of language proficiency or different education standards.

City of St. Albert Economic Development
The St. Albert Workforce Development Project will host 2 job fairs to address the hospitality and professional services sectors, and 2 to address the construction, trades and manufacturing sectors. These events will connect local employers to qualified job seekers and gather information on sector skill gaps.

Community Futures Grande Prairie and Region
The Hyper Drive Women in Business Summit will help women business owners and employers learn about effective recruitment and retention techniques and develop networks with other business owners and stakeholders to help them build strong recruitment and retention plans for their businesses.

Community Futures Peace Country
The PowerUp! Forum in Falher will provide employers with tools, resources and networking opportunities to connect and learn successful strategies to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as deal with current issues around supply chain and employee shortages.

Community Futures Peace Country
The Women in the North Project will hold 5 events in rural communities in northwestern Alberta. Events will provide information and support on recruitment and retention strategies, increase employer awareness of how to support staff, provide networking opportunities, develop leadership skills and increase the capacity of employers to build an adaptable labour force.

Community Futures Wild Rose
The Wild Rose Workforce Strategy Project will help build regional workforce partnerships, conduct a regional labour market study and develop a workforce strategy to guide long-term cross-sector collaboration to respond effectively to labour market changes.

Community Futures Yellowhead East
The Regional Business Support Network (BSN) – Labour Market Attraction & Retention Partnership Project will conduct industry engagement sessions and a speaker series, as well as develop regional industry-specific tool kits to support workforce attraction, retention, development and engagement. The goal is to support employers in filling an increased number of vacant positions.

Drayton Valley and District Chamber of Commerce
The Drayton Valley Career, Job & Training Expo will connect job seekers and employers in the Drayton Valley area and provide employers with resources, information, and tools for how to attract and retain workers.

Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
The Summit on the Aging Workforce will increase employer awareness of the value of hiring and retaining older workers in their organizations. There will be a focus on policy, information and tools to help employers address the needs of older workers.

FML Studios Inc./Careers in Technology and Innovation
The Growing Calgary Tech Labour Force: The Technology Talent Impact Series will host 4 employer events to increase awareness of the tech ecosystem, strengthen collaboration in the tech ecosystem, and help bridge the gap between talent and employers.

Fort Saskatchewan and District Chamber of Commerce
The Indigenous Cultural Awareness session will educate employers on inclusive, psychologically safe workplace practices for Indigenous employees with the goal of encouraging Indigenous workforce development and participation.

Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce
The Regional Labour Attraction & Retention Marketing Tool Development project will conduct stakeholder engagement, research and community ecosystem mapping to develop a regional quality of life asset bank. This tool will help employers attract and retain talent.

Greater Parkland Regional Chamber of Commerce
The Welcoming Workplace Series will provide speaker sessions on employee attraction and retention strategies including supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with a focus on underrepresented groups. Employers will enhance their knowledge of attraction, retention and DEI best practices.

Greater Parkland Regional Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Parkland Regional Chamber of Commerce Career/Job Fairs will host 2 career/job fairs, one with a focus on light/heavy industry and one with a focus on small business. The fairs will enable job creators to increase employment through attraction initiatives.

Jasper Employment and Education Centre
The Jasper Employment and Education Centre (JEEC) will conduct a labour market study to provide a comprehensive assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing the local labour market, as well as recommendations to improve the labour outlook unique to Jasper and help local employers with labour attraction, recruitment and retention.

Lethbridge Economic Development Initiative Society
The Automation and Manufacturing Workforce Research Project will review the impacts of automation on the local workforce, identify skill gaps and assess demand for training within the sector to improve regional workforce planning.

LINKages Society of Alberta
The Youth Labour Assessment Project will assess the skills, awareness, training and supports needed to encourage young adult workers to pursue employment in senior care and community settings. Workforce development and labour market strategies will be developed from the results to create an intergenerational outreach program.

Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce
The Lloydminster and Region Job Fair will connect local employers to qualified job seekers. Information will also be gathered on the types and number of jobs filled from the event and the skills that employers are struggling to find among job seekers.

Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce
The Lloydminster Business Education Forum will host sessions for employers equipping them with the tools and knowledge to rethink how they recruit, retain and build a resilient workforce, including mental health and coping mechanisms and the benefits and strategies of hiring underrepresented groups.

Red Deer Polytechnic
The Career Expo/Career Fair will provide employers an opportunity to recruit employees and educate a future workforce, while promoting their jobs and organizations. The fair will also provide students and community members with hands-on opportunities to explore career options.

SouthGrow Regional Initiative
The Southwest Alberta Graduate Retention Strategy research project will gather labour market information to develop a regional graduate and newcomer retention strategy and explore ways to keep graduates employed locally.

Strathcona County
The Strathcona County Youth Employment Workshops and Hiring Fair project will aim to address a shortage of low-skilled workers by connecting youth to employers. This project was in direct response to needs identified in Strathcona County’s recent community labour market study.

Sturgeon County
The Sturgeon County Regional Business Support event will inform employers about changes in the labour force and strategies to attract and retain workers from untapped labour pools.

Town of Canmore
The Labour Market Recruitment and Retention Strategy for Canmore will be used to understand the current labour market and opportunities to promote recruitment and retention best practices in anticipation of labour pressures as the economy, in particular travel, recovers from the pandemic.

Town of Hinton
The Business Support Network (BSN) & Speaker Series project will build employer leadership capacity and change management skills, as well as support resiliency among employers facing changing economic conditions and labour market challenges.

Town of Whitecourt
The Career and Education EXPO/Job Fair project will support regional workforce recovery by connecting employers to the diverse and skilled workers they need to build a resilient workforce, with a focus on under-represented groups. The fair will also connect attendees to programs and services that can assist with up-skilling to meet workforce gaps.

Vermillion and District Chamber of Commerce
The Vermilion Mental Health & Wellness Symposium will be a one-day event to help employees and employers learn strategies on how to cope with mental health challenges, access mental health resources and become a more resilient workforce.

Whitecourt and District Chamber of Commerce
The Whitecourt Economic Forum 2022 will be a one-day event to provide employers with tools, information, resources, and best practices to attract and retain workers, reduce turnover, and lessen the average time it takes to hire a new worker.

Alberta Biotechnology Association o/a BioAlberta
A first time labour market intelligence study focused specifically on Alberta’s pharmaceutical and life sciences sector.

Alberta Chambers of Commerce
Talent Development Task Force project will align post-secondary programming and labour market needs to propel economic recovery.

Alberta Construction Association
This Regional Workforce Retention pilot will address the shortage of skilled workers in smaller centres in Alberta’s construction industry by piloting regional worker exchanges to retain skilled workers facing unemployment due to the project based nature of construction. The pilot will begin in Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie followed by Fort McMurray, Lethbridge, Lloydminster and Red Deer.

Alberta Motor Transport Association
Beyond Licencing: Pathways to Commercial Truck Driving for Inexperienced Drivers addresses labour market challenges in the industry by raising awareness about employment opportunities in trucking. The project will identify pathways to employers willing to hire newly-licensed, inexperienced truck drivers and offer employers tools to hire new drivers.

ARETE Safety and Protection Inc.
A Restriction Exemption Program (REP) Training Grant that provides safety training to Alberta employers and employees who are implementing REP, or other COVID-19 safety requirements.

Calgary Economic Development
Alberta’s Screen-based Production Sector Labour Market Study – Calgary Economic Development and Edmonton Screen Industries Office will conduct a Labour Market Scan of Alberta's film industry, and, based on the results of the research, develop a Workforce Action Plan to grow the film industry's workforce.

Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF)
Return on Training Investment (ROTI) calculates the return on training investment for Alberta employers who invest in apprenticeship for three in-demand trades. This project will assess actual costs and quantify the associated benefits and impacts from an employer perspective.

Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors (CAGC)
This Seismic Sector Labour Market Research study identifies the sector's critical human resource issues, provides a complete understanding of recruitment and retention issues, and assesses effective strategies to support recruitment and retention. The study will also examine current workforce demand as well as training and/or re-training issues.

CEPA Foundation
The Development of Resources for Environmental Inspection develops an occupation profile and career roadmap for environmental construction inspection.

Edmonton Flying Club
This Pilot Pipeline Project will create a pipeline of career-ready pilots to meet the hiring needs of partners.

Edmonton Metropolitan Region Economic Development Company o/a Edmonton Global
A Hydrogen Labour Market Research Project that maps the current state capacity and capability of the potential hydrogen labour market in Alberta, explores optimal future state, and determines the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for workers and organizations to address gaps, leverage opportunities, and effectively transition into the new hydrogen economy.

Electricity Human Resources Canada (EHRC)
This project will develop an online Peer Learning Hub that brings together human resource practitioners to build industry and employer capacity to increase and enhance workforce participation of newcomers, youth, Indigenous peoples, women, mature workers, and people living with a disability.

Elevate Aviation Ltd.
The Virtual Reality Career Insight Project addresses industry labour market needs by taking commonly recognized careers and demonstrating how they can be reimagined as careers inside the aviation industry.

Energy Safety Canada o/a PetroLMI
Diversity and Inclusion in the Energy Workforce is a project that supports employer efforts to expand the composition and numbers of their workforce through attraction and retention initiatives with the focus on diversity and inclusion.

Environmental Careers Organization of Canada
Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Alberta’s Growing Environmental Workforce will produce, disseminate, and encourage the use of demographic data to help diversify Alberta's environmental workforce by developing information resources. Resources include baseline or benchmarking data, best practices and employer listings.

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) of Canada Inc.
The Driving Innovation and Growth in Rural Alberta study will assist in understanding emerging labour market and skill needs in rural Alberta, driven by increasing digitization across industries.

Retail Council of Canada
A Retail Labour Market Study that answers questions related to labour market supply and demand, labour and skills gaps, successful worker attraction and retention approaches and workforce planning to ensure the labour market can sustain the industry going forward.

Supply Chain Management Association
Supply Chain Trends: Adopting Digitization and Its Impact on Skills will research and analyze labour market trends within the Alberta supply chain sector and its value chains as they relate to three key economic sectors: energy and cleantech, aviation and logistics, and agriculture. The project will also promote and heighten awareness of current labour market needs.

Western Retail Lumber Association (WRLA)
A first time labour market intelligence study focused on Alberta’s retail forest products/building construction/supply subsector. The project will also identify skills gaps to attract diverse labour pools into the industry, thereby supporting small communities across Alberta.

Wood Manufacturing Council
Wood Industry Career Awareness Campaign for Newcomers/Equity Groups will coordinate with Alberta woodworking industry stakeholders to prepare, develop and undertake an initial implementation of a career awareness campaign to attract workforce participation of target groups, including newcomers, Indigenous people, youth, women and mature workers.

Alberta Information and Communications Technology Council
The Technology Alberta FIRST (First Industry Research, Science, Technology companies) Job Program will secure an additional 100 part-time positions at 100 Alberta small to medium technology enterprises for job seekers who are currently unemployed or under-employed. The intent is to have some of these jobs become permanent over time, and help Alberta small to medium technology enterprises grow.

Alberta Recreation and Parks Association
COVID-19 Labour Implications for the Alberta Parks and Recreation Industry will capture the short and long-term implications of COVID-19 on the recreation and parks labour force including layoffs, rehires, and redeployment measures. It will include case studies showcasing strategies and techniques utilized by organizations to revitalize their workforce.

Canadian Institute of Traffic and Transportation
Supply chain and logistics diversity and inclusion – multi-day employer workshops, career day, networking between job seekers and employers; followed up with in-depth corporate diversity and inclusion sessions.

Chic Geek
Chic Geek is developing an online human resources tool to support mid-career women in technology to remain in the industry. The project will also position women to move into senior roles by providing connections to micro-mentoring, which will provide more visibility to career paths and advancement.

Connect Partnerships Group Ltd.
Project will deliver a series of 3 virtual workshop days focusing on increasing the skills of Alberta employers to hire and retain an Indigenous workforce. Workshops will be followed by a round table that will educate Indigenous communities and agencies emerging employment trends to guide future training.

Electricity Human Resources Canada

Project 1

Workforce Transitions: Tourism to Electricity has 2 national sector councils collaborating to develop an Alberta focused career exploration resource that will help the unemployed tourism workforce to identify career paths and required skills to work in the electricity sector.

Project 2

Project will support the transition of graduating students from colleges and universities into opportunities in Alberta’s electricity sector by raising awareness of jobs in Alberta’s electricity and renewable energy industries.

Elevate Aviation
Diversity in Aviation – COVID-19 Workforce Recovery Plan is focusing on a COVID-19 workforce recovery action plan to prepare for future employment opportunities in order to meet industry’s recruitment needs. It will also focus on increasing the workforce participation of women and Indigenous people.

Environmental Careers Organization Canada (ECO Canada)

Project 1

Project will solidify an energy efficiency for building sector workforce strategy for Alberta, grow the sector's labour pool and develop, pilot and disseminate a talent attraction and management toolkit of best practices, resources and supports explicitly curated for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within Alberta's building sector.

Project 2

Advancing Green Jobs and Supporting Workforce Resiliency in Alberta will result in an Alberta-focused report that highlights occupational employment estimates and hiring forecasts for roles in natural resource management, and environmental goods and services sector. It will also include a green talent strategy for Alberta, highlighting workforce attraction, retention and development considerations.

Indigenous Tourism Alberta
Indigenous Tourism Alberta is undertaking a labour market study specific to Alberta Indigenous tourism. Due to COVID-19, the need for this type of data has increased – specifically around understanding the barriers, opportunities and trends in order to develop strategies to grow the Indigenous tourism workforce.

Information and Communications Technology Council

Project 1

Resilient Digital-Led Diversification for a Post-COVID Alberta will research COVID-19’s impact on the overall digital economy to provide a detailed understanding of upcoming in-demand jobs, skill needs and training pathways, and opportunities for investment attraction via digitization and diversification.

Project 2

Job matching, online career fair, placement and retention, selection and recruitment tools and workshops.

Next Gen Men
Gender Diversity in the Tech Industry; focusing on men (from C suite down) to become stakeholders/advocates in gender equality, thereby increasing overall attraction and retention of woman.

Organic Alberta in partnership with Young Agrarians
Growing a Workforce for Farming in Alberta will increase the number of skilled individuals in the agriculture workforce, either as employees for existing companies or as entrepreneurs launching their own agri-business.

PetroLMI

Project 1

PetroLMI is undertaking a project to identify employment opportunities in well closure and reclamation, and profile the key occupations, skills and aptitudes required. The project will also include a supply and demand analysis to ensure we have the workforce needed to complete this work before Federal funding commitment deadlines.

Project 2

Project will provide renewed attraction and awareness of available occupations within Alberta’s oil and gas services subsector. This will re-attract experienced workers and attract new workers into the sector.

Supply Chain Management Association o/a Supply Chain Canada
HR tools to improve recruitment, benchmark employees, gain competencies, internal career advancement, identify skills gaps to create learning paths for development and retention.

Trucking HR Canada
Commercial Truck Driver: Labour Market Information Project will assess the state of the trucking and logistics labour market in Alberta and identify occupations with labour shortages. It will also identify solutions to mitigate the threat of future labour shortages, and create a labour market information database.

Labour Market Information for Truck Transportation in Alberta’s Forestry Sector will assess the factors that impact the labour market for these workers and examine the patterns and trends of employment, unemployment, and vacancies in this specialized workforce. It aims to identify key points of cooperation and collaboration with the broader transport truck driver labour market to support more stable employment opportunities for these workers and encouraging new entrants to the occupation.

Women in Communications and Technology
The Talent Advancement Program will share HR best practices among Alberta technology, including tools to support and expand gender diversity.