Canada’s forest sector announced it is building a talent pipeline to fill an array of good-paying jobs in engineering, skilled trades, mill and woodlands operations, and administration.
Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is launching a campaign to raise awareness around job opportunities in Canada’s forest sector, called The Greenest Workforce.
“Today, Canada’s forest products sector directly employs 230,000 people and with our aging workforce and new skills being required, thousands more are going to be needed,” said Derek Nighbor, President and CEO of FPAC. “There is room for everyone in our sector and tapping into a diverse talent pool is going to be key to our future success. We see family-supporting jobs open to men and women, millennials and older workers, as well as real potential to attract more workers from Indigenous communities and in the growing cohorts of new Canadians.”
The initiative builds on earlier joint efforts, and is intended to help match Canadians looking for work opportunities in forest communities.
The online portal provides a robust job matching tool for both employers looking for talent and employees looking for jobs. The portal also features updated labour market information, with the support from the Ottawa’s Sectoral Initiatives Program, helping to address skills shortages in the sector.
In recent years, breakthrough innovations and transformation in the forest sector have unleashed its enormous potential as a global leader. FPAC predicts the industry is poised to play a crucial role in Canada’s economy of the future thanks to innovations in biotechnology which allow for forest byproducts to be converted into everything from bio-plastics to car parts to bio-fuels.
