Canadian organizations that fall into one of the following categories can apply to receive program funding through Upskill Canada: 

• Not-for-profit organizations 
• For-profit organizations – only if they do not generate profits from the proposed program. 
• Organizations involved in the post-secondary education sector 
• Private colleges and other private training institutions 
• Industry associations, and other business/sector associations 

Register your organization and program idea here. Based on your answers and stage of development, you will be placed in an application stream and either invited to submit a full application in an upcoming round or directed to additional support to further develop your concept. 

Yes! Part of the vision for Upskill Canada is a platform where organizations involved in talent acquisition and workforce development from across the country can connect to qualified talent pipelines and program opportunities. Upskill Canada has a partnerships team to connect and serve partners based on their needs, even if you are not applying directly for funding. 

Once you register, launch-ready projects will be invited to submit a full application to Upskill Canada. Applicants will have four weeks to submit their application and will be notified of their funding status within 8-10 weeks after submission. Registration will remain open, and a application portal will re-open to accept launch-ready applications approximately every 8 weeks. 

Once available, the application portal will remain open for four weeks.

The application portal will open approximately every 8 weeks to accept new program applications.

Applicants will be asked to describe the specific job they are upskilling participants into, and to demonstrate employer demand for talent in those roles. This includes providing a minimum of 3-5 companies who have agreed to co-design the program and potentially hire the candidates upon program completion. 

In addition, applications will be evaluated for how their program design aligns with the six components of Palette’s upskilling model,  operational capacity and financial robustness of the lead applicant, program budget, accessibility and EDI approaches, and job placement strategies. 

All applications submitted to Upskill Canada will go through an internal review process as well as an external review, provided by our Industry Review Panel, a group of industry leaders and hiring managers in talent, HR and people and culture roles, focused on reviewing proposals from a talent acquisition perspective. All proposals will be scored against an evaluation rubric with the Palette Skills board providing governance and fiduciary oversight. 

Our program application guide will provide details on what expenses are eligible or ineligible and any limits around costs. We expect proposals to provide budgets that are reasonable and defensible and in line with general market rates. As part of our application review process, we may come back with questions around certain expenses or budget lines if they appear to be outliers.

Programs with demonstrated track records of success that align with Palette’s upskilling model can be funded through Upskill Canada. Delivery partners will be asked to demonstrate plans to expand and/or increase the impact of existing programs through funding.

Funding will be provided to applicants shortly after funding contracts have been signed. Applicants will be informed about the success of their program funding within approximately 8-10 weeks after submission of the full application.

Yes, we encourage delivery partners to collaborate with other training partners to develop unique delivery models. 

Delivery partners retain all intellectual property rights for any upskilling programs that are funded through Upskill Canada.

Upskilling programs will start based on the start dates agreed upon in the delivery contracts signed with partners. 

Upskilling programs can be up to 16 weeks in length.

Delivery partners can deliver programs in-person or virtually or a hybrid. 

Upskill Canada will target employers located across the country, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-growth sectors, to better address their skills needs. It will focus on strengthening key growth sectors, including 

• Digital technology
• Cyber security
• Agricultural technology
• Clean technology
• Biomanufacturing

Upskill Canada has a mandate to ensure programs are delivered in each region of the country and to work to generate proposals from partners in all provinces. Program applications can target any region, but ensuring an equitable distribution of programs based on targets will be a consideration in the funding evaluation process.