A housing project can leave a community with trained people as well as homes, but only if the training is planned before the contract is signed. In practice that means registering apprentices before work starts, lining up training dollars through your local Indigenous skills and employment organization, writing clear local-hire and training terms into the tender, and keeping trainees working on renovation and maintenance once the build is finished.
This guide covers the training side of a housing program: where the money for trainees comes from, how apprenticeship rules in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta shape how you plan a crew, what to put in a contract, and how to turn construction jobs into a housing department that can maintain its own homes. It is general information only. Confirm program details with the program or apprenticeship office before you rely on them.
Why plan training before the tender goes out?
Every housing project contains trade hours: site preparation, foundations, services, finishing, decks and landscaping. If nobody plans for them, those hours go to whoever the contractor already employs. If they are planned, the same hours can count toward an apprenticeship and leave skills behind in the community.
Timing matters more than most housing managers expect. In Manitoba, an apprentice can only apply once someone has hired them. Apprenticeship Manitoba says "Only once you have an employer can you go through the steps to apply for your apprenticeship", and hours worked do not count until the agreement is registered. A local worker who starts on your project in May but is registered in August has lost three months of hours toward a ticket. Registration belongs in the project schedule, alongside permits and site work.
Training also takes longer than a single build. Manitoba notes that apprenticeship hours "must be worked over a minimum length of time, typically one year per level". One project can start someone on a trade, but it will not finish them. Plan where the second and third years of work will come from.
Where does the money for trainees come from?
The training side of a housing project is usually paid for separately from the homes themselves. (For funding the construction, see our guide to funding modular buildings for First Nations.) Three sources matter most.
The Indigenous Skills and Employment Training (ISET) Program. Employment and Social Development Canada describes ISET as designed "to help Indigenous people improve their skills and find employment". It does not fund individuals or projects directly. It funds Indigenous service delivery organizations that design and deliver job training to First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban/non-affiliated Indigenous people. ESDC's list of service delivery organizations, sorted by group and by province or territory, tells you who covers your community, and advises: "Get in touch with your local service delivery organization to find out what's available in your community."
Under the First Nations terms and conditions, eligible spending includes "participant costs (for example, tuition, completion bonus, living expenses, dependent care costs)" and "wage subsidies and subsidies for MERCs paid to employers who employ participants." Those terms date from 2019, and each service delivery organization sets its own priorities and intake, so ask yours what it offers now. The point for a housing manager is that the people who can pay for tuition, childcare and part of a trainee's wage are often not the same people funding the houses. Bring them in early.
CMHC's Indigenous Skills Training Program. CMHC's program provides "$1.852 million in national funding each year" for skills and capacity projects that support on-reserve housing. Eligible activities include training in planning, designing, building, inspecting and renovating housing, as well as train-the-trainer programs and mentorship. It does not pay for the work itself: salaries, hardware, tools and equipment, and building operations and maintenance are all ineligible. The 2026-27 priorities include regional housing industry professionals and effective home maintenance. At the time of writing, CMHC says "The application portal is now closed," so watch for the next intake.
Federal supports for individual apprentices. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and Apprenticeship Completion Grant both closed on March 31, 2025. The same page says apprentices can still get Employment Insurance during technical training and "up to $20,000 in interest-free Canada Apprentice Loans." Separately, the federal Red Seal Completion Bonus is "a $5,000 payment for eligible journeypersons who complete an apprenticeship training program" in a designated Red Seal trade. Check the eligibility pages before you promise any of these to a trainee.
How do apprenticeship rules shape a housing crew?
Apprenticeship is run by each province and territory. The Red Seal Program says "Provinces and territories are responsible for apprenticeship training and trade certification" in their jurisdictions. The Red Seal endorsement sets a common standard and helps tradespeople move between provinces, but the program is clear that "It does not indicate that a person is certified by a province or territory to carry on any trade." Your provincial office is the one that registers apprentices and issues certificates.
Three provincial rules affect how many trainees you can put on a project:
- Manitoba: one apprentice per journeyperson. Apprenticeship Manitoba states that "On October 30, 2024, the regulation changed to be a 1:1 apprentice to journeyperson ratio; it was previously a 2:1 ratio." Employers must assign a certified journeyperson or designated trainer to supervise on-the-job training, and designated trainers are not allowed in compulsory certification trades. Employers who need more apprentices can apply for a ratio adjustment. The employer, not the apprentice, records and reports the hours.
- Saskatchewan: the employer approves the registration. The Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission tells employers to "Register the employee as an apprentice by approving their application through your MyATC account", to provide supervised on-the-job training and pay wages, and to submit or approve the apprentice's trade time at least twice a year. The same page publishes minimum apprentice wage percentages.
- Alberta: sponsors do not have to be private companies. Alberta's sponsor's guide says sponsors may be employers, consortia of employers, a labour organization, or "non-profit organizations or others." Sponsors must provide paid on-the-job instruction through mentorship and meet mentor-to-apprentice ratios, and "A mentor must have a journeyperson certification or hold a recognized trade certificate."
The practical lesson is that journeypersons limit how many apprentices you can train. A target of ten local apprentices means nothing if the crew has three journeypersons. When you set training targets, count the certified supervisors first, in each trade. A housing department that employs its own certified tradesperson can also register or sponsor apprentices itself, instead of relying on each contractor.
What should a contract say about local hiring and training?
Vague promises like "the contractor will make best efforts to hire locally" are hard to measure and easy to drop. Clear, measurable terms work better. These are points to discuss with your lawyer and project manager, not standard wording:
- Name the trades and the scope. Say which parts of the work are open to local workers (for example site preparation, foundations, services, finishing, decks) and which are done off site. With factory-built homes much of the framing happens in a plant, so local hours concentrate in site work. Be honest about that up front.
- Set numbers you can check. State the number of local positions or hours, how many will be registered apprentices, and in which trades. Tie the apprentice number to the number of journeypersons the contractor will have on site.
- Register before work starts. Require apprentices to be registered with the provincial office before their first shift, so hours count from day one.
- Require hours reporting. Ask for monthly reports of local hours worked and apprentice hours posted to the provincial system, by trade.
- Coordinate funding. Name who will deal with your ISET service delivery organization about wage subsidies, tuition and supports, and make sure the same costs are not claimed twice.
- Plan orientation and safety. Local hires need site safety orientation and any required certificates before they start. Agree who delivers and pays for it.
- Agree what happens if targets are missed. Decide in advance whether a shortfall means a reporting conversation, a holdback, or a make-up commitment on later phases.
Keep the targets realistic. A small project in a remote community may only support a handful of positions. It is better to fully meet a modest target than to miss an ambitious one.
How do you keep trainees through to a ticket?
Getting someone registered is the easy part. Finishing is harder everywhere, not just in First Nations. Saskatchewan's apprenticeship commission reported a real completion rate of 52.1% in 2024-25 against a 60% target, in its 2024-25 annual report. The same report shows Indigenous apprentices made up 17.2% of registered apprentices in 2024-25, and that its Indigenous Apprenticeship Initiatives program funded four projects that year, including a tri-trades plumbing, carpentry and electrical program and a residential renovation and construction training program delivered on First Nations.
From those patterns, a few things help trainees finish:
- Plan for technical training. Apprentices leave the job for classroom blocks. Schedule them around the build, not in the middle of the busiest weeks, and know whether EI or ISET supports will cover them while they are away.
- Pay attention to supports. Childcare, transportation and living costs during training are often what makes someone quit. ISET's eligible participant costs include dependent care and living expenses; ask your service delivery organization what it covers.
- Pair each apprentice with one journeyperson. A consistent mentor is required by the ratio rules anyway. Make it the same person where you can.
- Line up the next job. A trainee who finishes one project with nowhere to log hours often drops out. Look for the next phase, a renovation program, or a neighbouring community's project.
How does construction training build maintenance capacity?
The strongest case for training on a housing project is what happens after the contractor leaves. Homes need carpenters, plumbers, electricians and heating technicians for decades. A housing department that keeps even two or three certified or apprenticed tradespeople on staff can do more repairs in-house, respond faster in winter, and rely less on outside crews.
The renovation and maintenance program is also where apprentices can keep logging hours between new builds. To make that work:
- Make the housing department an employer of record. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan the employer registers or approves the apprentice and reports hours; in Alberta, non-profit organizations and others can be sponsors. Check with your provincial office whether your housing department or band administration can take that role.
- Keep certified supervisors. Your ability to train in-house depends on having certified journeypersons on staff, because the ratio rules apply to you too.
- Use the right fund for the right cost. CMHC's Indigenous Skills Training Program can support training, mentorship and train-the-trainer work but not salaries or tools. Wages and wage subsidies are a conversation for your ISET service delivery organization and your own housing budget.
- Match training to your housing stock. Trades that look after heating, plumbing and electrical systems are the ones you will call most often. Prioritize them when choosing which apprenticeships to support.
Where does a builder fit in?
Herauf Modular builds homes and community buildings as finished sections indoors in its Saskatchewan and BC plants, then delivers and sets them on site. Most builds are manufactured and delivered in about 16 weeks, with foundations, pads and services prepared on site at the same time. That on-site work is where local trades and apprentices usually fit into a modular project, so it is worth planning your training targets around it. Every unit meets or exceeds CSA A277 and the National Building Code for climate zones 6 through 8.
Herauf has delivered in demanding conditions, from youth transitional homes hauled roughly 1,300 km north over the winter ice road for St. Theresa Point First Nation to 20 homes for Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, installed within days. More on modular housing for remote communities.
Herauf does not administer funding, apply on a community's behalf or promise eligibility for training or housing programs. It can talk through site scope and schedule so your training and hiring plan matches the real work. Tell us about your project; Herauf replies to enquiries within one business day.
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Program rules change: confirm the details with the program, your Indigenous Services Canada regional office or CMHC before relying on them. Herauf does not administer any program or apply on a community's behalf.