About Us
Partnerships in Action
The Trade Winds to Success Project represents a unique partnership that has been established between the following key stakeholders:
- Human Resources Skill Development Canada (Funding Partner)
- Alberta Employment Local 146 & Immigration (Funding Partner)
- Oteenow Employment and Training Society
- Métis Nation of Alberta
- Community Futures Treaty Seven
Union Training Trust Fund(s)
- The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local 146
- Alberta and Northwest Territories ( District of Mackenzie) Regional Council of Carpenters and Allied Workers, Local 1325
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 424
- Alberta Iron workers Apprenticeship and Training Plan, Local Unions 720 and 725
- United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Local 488 and Local 496
- Alberta Millwrights, Local 1460
Executive Summary
The beginnings of the Trade Winds to Success Project were in 1999 as a result of discussions that the Union Training Trust Fund(s) had initiated with first the federal government and the Alberta Provincial Government. Originally, the Union Training Trust Fund(s) were seeking the federal governments support, in the form of a partnership, to find a way to provide training to more people through their existing training facilities with the goal of increasing the number of skilled labor available to the Union Training Trust Fund(s). The federal government guided the Union Training Trust Fund(s) to consult with the Aboriginal community as a potential partner for their initiative.
The reason for this was due to the Aboriginal communities having agreements, called Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreements (AHRDAs) with the department of Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSD). The AHRDA holders all have the common objective of delivering labor market programming to assist unemployed Aboriginal people prepare for, obtain and maintain meaningful employment. They deal directly with a large number of Aboriginal clients seeking employment-assisted services, thus an available supply of potential employees to address the Union’s concerns. The AHRDA also have pre-apprentice and apprenticeship training set as a target to address the under representation of Aboriginal people employed in the construction trades.
This was the catalyst to a unique partnership between the four Union Training Trust Fund(s) and the Aboriginal communities to find a way to dramatically increase the number of Aboriginal people represented and working in the trades within the Union Training Trust Fund(s)’ existing structures.
As a result, the Trade Winds to Success Project was designed specifically to increase the number of Aboriginal people, residing in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary working in the trades.
