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Labour Mobility
- What is Labour Mobility?
- What is the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)?
- What does Chapter 7 say about Labour Mobility?
- How does the AIT affect Canadian's workers?
- What is the Social Union Framework Accord's role in improving Labour Mobility?
- The Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM)
- What role does the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) play regarding labour mobility?
- Applying for Funding under Labour Mobility Division
- What is Human Resources Partnerships (HRP) doing to help Labour Mobility?
- What is the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA) role in increasing Labour Mobility for Regulated Trades?
- Red Seal Program
What is Labour Mobility?
"Labour mobility" refers to the freedom of workers to practice their occupation wherever opportunities exist. Every year, approximately 200,000 Canadians relocate to a different province or territory and look for work.
Encouraging the recognition of qualifications across Canada benefits workers and employers alike. Workers have a wider range of opportunities and employers have a broader selection of candidates.
What is the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)?
The Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), signed in 1994 by the Government of Canada and the provincial and territorial governments, makes it easier for people, investments, and services to move across Canada.
What does Chapter 7 say about Labour Mobility?
Chapter 7 of the AIT - the Labour Mobility Chapter - says that any qualified worker in an occupation in one province or territory must be granted access to similar employment opportunities in any other Canadian jurisdiction.
Chapter 7 of the AIT targets three main barriers that prevent or limit the interprovincial movement of workers:
- residency requirements;
- practices related to occupational licensing, certification and registration; and
- differences in occupational standards.
This is particularly significant to the approximately 20 percent of workers in Canada who work in regulated occupations or trades. It means qualifications of workers from one part of the country are to be recognized and accommodated in other parts of Canada, and differences in occupational standards are to be reconciled as much as possible. The goal is to see people licensed and registered based primarily on their competency to do the job, not on where they come from.
How does the AIT affect Canadian's workers?
The AIT covers over 100 professions and government-regulated trades and occupations involving close to 400 regulatory bodies that must, among other things, reach agreement to ensure that qualifications earned in one jurisdiction will be recognized in other jurisdictions.
There are approximately 60 regulated professions in Canada, with 51 of them regulated in two or more jurisdictions. People working in regulated occupations include doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers and architects, among others.
It is not just "professional" occupations that are subject to the AIT. There are approximately 50 trades where certification is compulsory in at least one jurisdiction. Examples of trades that require certification/licensing in most jurisdictions include electricians, plumbers and automobile mechanics.
What is the Social Union Framework Accord's role in improving Labour Mobility?
In February 1999, all federal, provincial and territorial governments, with the exception of Quebec, signed the Social Union Framework Accord (SUFA) - A framework to improve the social union for Canadians. This committed signatory governments to ensure full compliance with all labour mobility provisions of the AIT by July 2001.
SUFA compliments and provides a renewed focus for the mobility efforts of the Government of Canada and all provinces and territories through the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM).
The Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM)
The Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) was established in 1983 to facilitate interjurisdictional discussion and cooperation on labour market issues. The FLMM's mandate is to:
- Promote interjurisdictional cooperation on labour market issues and to provide a forum to establish and meet common goals.
- Promote a highly skilled workforce with portable qualifications through the development and expansion of interprovincial standards.
- Facilitate Canada's adaptation to changes in economic structure and skill requirements.
- Provide an interjurisdictional link to participatory structures such as labour force development boards.
What role does the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) play regarding labour mobility?
The Forum of Labour Market Ministers has, as one of their major goals, the responsibility for implementing the Labour Mobility chapter of the Agreement on Internal Trade. One of the major areas of attention for the FLMM involves coordinated efforts by all governments to get occupational regulatory bodies to comply with mobility goals.
Applying for Funding under Labour Mobility Division
Labour Mobility is the freedom of workers to practice their occupation wherever opportunities exist. Every year, approximately 200,000 Canadians relocate to a different province or territory (PT) and look for work.
Funding for Labour Mobility
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s Labour Mobility (LM) Division provides limited funding to eligible regulated professions for activities that facilitate labour mobility.
Examples of these activities include:
- developing a better understanding of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) requirements; and
- developing tools to enhance labour mobility.
With these activities, the ultimate goal is to achieve:
- removal of barriers to labour mobility in Canada;
- free movement of certified workers; and
- expeditious recognition of certification for labour mobility applicants.
The LM Division is available for advice and guidance about developing and implementing contribution projects that it supports. Federal investments contribute to developing new ways to improve inter-provincial mobility. This could be achieved over time as new professions become regulated within the jurisdictions. It could also be accomplished through improved nation-wide communication between different stakeholders (e.g. educators, unions, regulators, employers, governments) to share best practices and to find a common vision on labour mobility issues.
Who is eligible
Regulated professions and associations of regulators are eligible to apply for funding providing the occupation is regulated in at least two jurisdictions.
How to apply
For more information or to request an application package, please contact us by web email form.
Background
The Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) was signed in 1994 by the Government of Canada and the PT governments. It makes it easier for people, investments and services to move across Canada. Chapter 7 of the AIT is specifically dedicated to Labour Mobility. Recently, Chapter 7 of the AIT was changed, allowing licensed workers to be accepted in another PT in Canada as long as they have a license in good standing in their “home” jurisdiction. The new jurisdiction will no longer require an individual to undergo additional training, experience, examination or assessment to re-certify, unless an exception to full labour mobility has been approved. For additional information on legitimate objectives, please contact your provincial or territorial government.
What is Human Resources Partnerships (HRP) doing to help Labour Mobility?
HRP helps advance human resources issues like labour mobility by supporting national partnerships among all labour market players - business, labour, governments, educators and employees.
HRP and its partners work to reconcile national occupational standards to allow workers access to jobs across Canada. This is achieved through the development of cross-border and cross-sectoral agreements called Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) - instruments used to mutually recognize each others qualifications.
HRP provides financial assistance for activities related to reconciling occupational standards. Through HRP, funding is made available to consortia, representing different occupations, to meet and to develop an MRA allowing workers to work anywhere across Canada. For example, the registered nurses in Canada agreed on an MRA that increases labour mobility within their profession.
For government-regulated trades, HRP supports labour mobility through the Red Seal Program. The Program encourages standardization of provincial and territorial apprenticeship training and certification programs. Certified workers in the forty-five designated Red Seal trades can have their qualifications recognized across the country by writing and passing an interprovincial examination, which is developed based on a National Occupational Analysis (NOA). The "Red Seal" allows qualified trades persons to practice the trade in any province or territory in Canada where the trade is designated without having to write further examinations. These “Red Seal” exams are administered through the apprenticeship systems of each province and territory.
All jurisdictions recognize these examinations which if passed, result in a Red Seal being affixed to the provincial or territorial Certificate of Qualification providing labour mobility to any other jurisdiction that also has the trade designated. Also, most provinces have made recent commitments to extend some form of recognition for tradespersons who are not covered by the Red Seal Program.
What is the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA) role in increasing Labour Mobility for Regulated Trades?
The CCDA is an inter-jurisdictional partnership that works with industry in the development of a skilled labour force, and in the facilitation of labour mobility throughout Canada. The CCDA is the responsible administrator of the Red Seal Program, and in accordance with Article 708 - Chapter 7 of the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Red Seal Program shall be the primary method through which occupational qualifications in regulated trades are recognized. As such, the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA) and the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) have been working together to ensure that the regulated trades meet the requirements of Chapter 7.
Red Seal Program
The Red Seal allows qualified tradespeople to practise their trade in any province or territory without having to write additional examinations, thus improving labour mobility in Canada and saving time and resources by eliminating the need for multiple examinations.
- The Ellis Chart provides an interprovincial overview of the 13 Canadian apprenticeship systems.
- National Occupational Analyses (NOAs)
Identifies tasks performed according to the skills required in each province and territory for Red Seal trades. National Occupational Analyses are used to develop Red Seal examinations and can be used to develop curricula in training institutions.
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