September 8, 2015 – StatsCan is conducting its National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) from September 2015 to February 2016, and the folks behind Canada’s Red Seal—the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA)—says “We need the support of stakeholders [employers, labour, training providers and others] to encourage participation in this important survey.”

The survey will look at apprentices’ motivations and experiences, and the barriers they faced during their apprenticeship program. This information will help governments, training providers and employers better understand the challenges apprentices face, and help improve supports for apprentices.

For example, the 2007 NAS provided information that helped lead to the development of initiatives such as the Canada Apprentice Loan, the Flexibility & Innovation in Technical Training initiative, and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant.

NAS will gather information from a sample of persons who completed or discontinued their apprenticeship program between 2011 and 2013. By raising awareness about the survey, Statistics Canada aims to achieve a response rate that will yield information from 23,500 persons.

If you were an apprentice between 2011 and 2013 and are contacted by Statistics Canada to complete the survey, please take the time to respond. Participating is easy and secure: you can do your telephone interview at a time that is convenient and, because the survey is conducted under the authority of the Statistics Act, the information you provide will be kept confidential and used only for statistical and research purposes.

Please distribute this message within your organization, to your network and apprentice community.