February 14, 2024 – Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) launched “Building it green”, heralding it as “the first comprehensive, climate-focused construction education curriculum designed for tradespeople, by tradespeople”.

CBTU kicked off the program at the IBEW 586 training centre in Ottawa. In attendance were members of its Canadian executive board, “Building it green” partners Skillplan and Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, as well as members of the Ottawa Building Trades Council and IBEW trainers and apprentices.

Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy’s Union Training and Innovation Program–Innovation in Apprenticeship, “Building It Green” will be available in over 200 union training centres across the country in the coming months.

“In addition to being deployed across our union training centres, all instructors who have completed the first phase of the ‘Building it green’ curriculum will have the opportunity to complete additional training modules through a train-the-trainer model, which has been adapted to over 14 specific trades,” said Sean Strickland, executive director, CBTU.

Developed by CBTU with project partners Skillplan, Climate Industry Research Team, and SRDC, “Building it green” will provide apprentices, trainers, and journeymen “with a deep understanding of how climate change and sustainability intersect with construction, and the impact they have on Canada’s future”.

The union training program incorporates a common curriculum for all tradespeople, with specific modules spanning the 14 affiliates and 80 trades that comprise CBTU.

Kicking off “Building it green” at IBEW 586 in Ottawa.

CBTU is an alliance of 14 unions in the construction, maintenance, and fabrication industries (including IBEW) that represent approx. 600,000 workers in Canada.