Disability and Apprenticeship

With the current focus on Ontario’s economic status and the impact of tariffs, everyone is finding maintaining standard of living more challenging. To do so means either decrease spending or increase income. However, for people living with disabilities, it becomes much more complicated. StatsCan has been demonstrating for decades now that people living with disabilities traditionally are in the lowest socioeconomic levels and the highest unemployment resulting in the Canadian Survey on Disability 2019 in order to properly capture these trends. It is also important to note that Ontario was institutionalizing people living with disabilities up to 2009. We were also denying entry into school for people living with disabilities in 1999 which ended with an amendment to the Education Act and the IPRC process and IEP’s being developed. As a result, we are only one generation removed from people living with disabilities being seen as having nothing to contribute to society and being unemployable. It is with that background that we look at the current status in Ontario of people living with disabilities and apprenticeship. StatsCan annually tracks apprenticeship in all provinces including by gender and occupation. In 2024, Ontario had 22,596 apprentices registered which was the highest number it had seen since 2013. It also marks the fourth consecutive year of a 10% increase from the previous year demonstrating a very positive trend. However, Ontario has consistently seen about 10,000 apprentices complete the Red Seal program over the past five years with a slight decrease of late. And of those 10,000, 80% of them took six or more years to complete the program rather than the expected four years. Last year, ESDC completed an evaluation report on the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Grant program and determined the largest barriers to completion are financial barriers related to tool and training costs, almost all training centers being located in urban settings, and nonaccommodating environments. While ESDC does not track disability data in the apprenticeship program, it did note only 1% of Canadian apprentices are living with a disability and 58% of them state they don’t fit in their environment. It should also be noted that the success rate of passing a Red Seal exam after completing the apprenticeship program on the first attempt is 45%. Skilled Trade Ontario published in their annual report that they supported over 5800 apprentices with their Exam Support Unit in 2024-25 and saw a 26% success rate on the retake attempt. However, that means 40% of apprentices are still failing the exam after the second attempt. It should also be noted that all exam centres are located at one of 24 Ontario college sites, all but two being located in urban settings. According to StatsCan, Jacob was one of the 486 new Heavy Equipment Technician apprentices in Ontario last year. Due to receiving credit for apprentice hours during his high school coop, he has completed the apprenticeship program and wrote his Red Seal exam. However, he only got a 46% and so took the training again while asking for allowable accommodations. After receiving approval to have a reader and scribe, a quiet room and unlimited time, he was unsuccessful again but with a score of 54%. However, when the scribe who is a retired principal and special education specialist was shown the Red Seal practice exam, she stated his exam was a language exam and not a knowledge exam like the attached practice exam. Unfortunately, according to the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work, this is not an uncommon situation. In their annual trend report for 2025, they found the biggest barriers for apprentices living with disabilities is a lack of accommodation and support for the Red Seal exam. They also note that only 9% of apprentices are newcomers to Canada with language barriers being a large obstacle since language support is separate from the apprenticeship program. Considering Skills Trades Ontario is completing their transition as a new Crown agency and their three year strategic plan, we believe accessibility and accreditation needs to be a focus moving forward. It is our belief the current accreditation system, accommodations and training programs are more reflective of pre-2009 Ontario paper and pencil methods and not truly inclusive and accessible for people with reading challenges. We thank MPP John Jordan for sponsoring us Dec 9 from 10:30am to 1:00pm in Room 230 for FASD Awareness Day at Queen’s Park. To confirm your attendance, please email Rob at ruralfasd@gmail.com.