Employment Partnerships Program

Under the Employment Partnerships Program (EPP), the Direct Training stream supports projects that provide structured training opportunities to Indigenous participants to improve employment outcomes, reduce barriers to employment, and enhance participants’ employability, including increasing job readiness, credentials attainment, or pathways to employment.

Direct Training projects must involve training activities with a duration of more than 2 weeks and up to a maximum of 52 weeks less one day and must include a minimum of 20 training hours per participant. Applicants must clearly describe the proposed training, including the total duration (days and hours), training schedule, and delivery method.

For projects that combine multiple training courses into a single project (for example, bundled pre‑employment or safety certifications), applicants must clearly identify:

• each course included
• the duration of each course (days and hours) and
• the criteria used to determine successful participant completion (for example, required courses passed)

For projects offering multiple training pathways or course options (for example, pre‑trades, driver training, or occupational certifications), applicants must clearly indicate the anticipated number of participants for each training type.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to demonstrate an identified community and labour market need for the proposed training, including available evidence such as participant interest, employer demand, or sector requirements. Applications should also describe how participants will be supported to promote retention and successful completion of training.

Applicants who require additional evidence of labour market need or project design are encouraged to consider applying to the Indigenous Workforce Planning stream to undertake labour market research, community engagement, or strategic planning, which may then inform a future Direct Training application.

Direct Training activities

Examples of eligible Direct Training activities may include:

• Project Management and Administration
  • Certified Project Management courses
  • Bookkeeping/payroll
• Construction and Industrial Training
  • Pre-trades and trades-related training
  • Flagging/traffic control
  • Workplace health and safety certifications
• Health and Community Services
  • Health Care Aide
  • Community support worker
  • Early Childhood Education
• Hospitality and Tourism
  • Food safety certification
  • Event planning
• Digital and Technology 
  • Digital marketing
  • IT support
  • Excel/data skills
• Logistics and Supply Chain
  • Forklift operator certification
  • Warehouse or inventory management training

Projects funded under this stream are intended to encourage, support, and facilitate labour force adjustment and human resource planning activities, with an emphasis on partnership development and supporting communities and sectors to develop and implement strategies to address labour market issues and meet human resource requirements.

Projects promoting youth career awareness are eligible for funding through EPP, with youth being defined as individuals aged 15 to 30 years old.

All projects must be finite in nature, with clearly defined outcomes and timeframes, and must not be reliant on future agreements for success. While recurring annual projects may be eligible, each intake or delivery period must demonstrate distinct outcomes (for example, a new cohort of participants or a new phase of work).

This includes events that are primarily designed to facilitate recruitment, job matching, resume collection, or hiring. Career awareness activities and symposiums may remain eligible where they are clearly focused on addressing an identified labour market issue and are designed to support labour market planning, workforce adjustment, or employer and community capacity building. To be eligible, these activities must be partnership driven*, strategic in nature, and result in outcomes such as a shared understanding of workforce challenges, identification of skills needs, or contributions to sectoral or community labour market strategies. Eligible activities must not include direct employment services or hiring activities. Please contact EPP staff directly for questions on this change. 

* “Partnership-driven” means the project is collaboratively developed and meaningfully shaped by multiple relevant stakeholders (for example, employers, industry groups, communities, Indigenous organizations), to address a shared, identified labour market issue — rather than being led by a single organization acting alone. Applicants should ensure their application clearly outlines how their project is partnership-driven and highlight these partnerships.

Eligible Indigenous Workforce Planning activities 

Examples of eligible Indigenous Workforce Planning activities may include:

• Labour market or workforce research
• Community skills inventories and labour force surveys
• Sector‑ or community‑based symposiums, forums, or roundtables focused on labour market planning or workforce adjustment
• Community economic development or workforce strategic planning (planning only; implementation is not eligible)
• Youth career awareness

Funding recipients are required to:

• include acknowledgement of the Government of Canada’s contribution on project-related materials, including:
  • promotional and outreach materials such as posters, brochures, website and social media posts
  • participant-facing materials, such as training or program information and
  • reports and public-facing documents
• coordinate with EPP staff to ensure appropriate use of federal identifiers and messaging
• provide advance notice to EPP staff of any public communications, announcements, or events related to the project(s)
• participate in joint communication opportunities where requested

These requirements reflect federal obligations for public communications, promotional materials, reporting and announcements under labour market transfer agreements.

Detailed visibility and acknowledgement requirements will be outlined in the Grant and Contribution Agreement and must be followed as a condition of funding

Under the EPP Direct Training stream, the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program agreement holders are eligible to apply.

Under the EPP Indigenous Workforce Planning stream, the following Alberta organizations are eligible to apply:

• Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program agreement holders
  • ISET sub-agreement holders should still apply through their main ISET holder organization, regardless of being eligible under a different category for Indigenous Workforce Planning funding
• Select Urban Indigenous Organizations
  • This includes existing EPP funded organizations and the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association
• Métis Organizations (not represented by an ISET holder)
  • This includes credibly asserted Métis communities and independent Métis organizations.
• Aseniwuche Winewak Nation

Applicants must also be corporate entities in good standing, having met reporting deadlines and requirements for any previously funded grants from Indigenous Relations.

Eligible expenses can include:

• direct training costs
• training supplies and materials
• venues for training
• wages and benefits for project staff members
• required travel expenses for project participants
• project administration costs (maximum 15% of total amount requested) – must be based on project activities and scope
• Elder honoraria

Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

• living allowances
• curriculum development
• ongoing operating costs of an Indigenous government, organization, or corporation
  (including office space rent)
• capital costs (acquisitions, construction, development, or enhancement of buildings, equipment, electronics, furniture, vehicles, or other tangible assets)
• consultant or board member honoraria, donations, or prize money
• payments for services that would normally be provided without charge

Eligible expenses can include:

• wages and benefits for project staff members
• venues for project events/activities
• materials and supplies
• project related travel
• project administration costs (maximum 15% of total amount requested) – must be based on project activities and scope
• Elder honoraria

Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

• ongoing operating costs of an Indigenous government, organization, or corporation
  (including office space rent)
• capital costs (acquisitions, construction, development, or enhancement of buildings, equipment, electronics, furniture, vehicles, or other tangible assets)
• consultant or board member honoraria, donations, or prize money
• payments for services that would normally be provided without charge

When the application period opens, you will need to complete the grant application form and include supporting documents and other pertinent information.

Ensure you select the correct application for the EPP stream you are applying for, either Direct Training or Indigenous Workforce Planning.

Download your application package for:

• Direct Training stream
• Indigenous Workforce Planning stream

Submit your application to [email protected].

There is no guarantee the project will be approved until you receive formal notification that your application has been selected for funding.

Applications will be evaluated based on:

• EPP alignment:
  • project outcomes and activities clearly align with EPP objectives
• organizational capacity:
  • employment and training in organizational mandate and previously completed similar projects
  • clearly stated outcomes and steps taken to ensure success
• project feasibility:
  • clear activities and timelines contributing to stated outcomes
  • clear identification of the need for the project
  • partner support (for example, community, employer, industry) demonstrated through budgetary contributions, letters of support or both
  • detailed and complete budget clearly linked to project activities

Approved projects receive funding payments via direct deposit, approximately 4 to 6 weeks after your approval letter is received. Delays are possible.

If your organization has not received previous funding from the ministry, if your office location has moved, or if your banking information has changed, fill out the Application for Direct Deposit form and submit it with your application.

If the originally scheduled project activities are delayed or unable to proceed, contact your Grant Advisor as soon as possible, to inform them of the change and discuss potential next steps. Funding approved under the Direct Training stream is based on the anticipated number of participants and approved training activities. Where actual or projected training enrollment is significantly lower than approved, funding recipients are expected to notify EPP staff as soon as possible to discuss appropriate project changes, including adjustments to scope, timelines, or use of funds.

Any unspent or surplus funds resulting from reduced enrollment or changes to project scope must be returned to EPP, unless otherwise approved through a formal project amendment. Failure to proactively notify EPP staff of material changes to enrollment may impact future funding decisions under the Employment Partnerships Program.

Amendments

• Grant recipients can request amendments to the original Grant and Contribution Agreement in writing. Amendment requests must include specific changes required, along with a brief rationale for the requested change. All amendments are subject to approval.
  • Amendment requests submitted after the Grant and Contribution Agreement term end date will not be considered.
  • To avoid overlapping grants and deliverables, amendments will only be considered as long as the applicant is not seeking funding for the same project in the subsequent intake.

EPP projects, depending on the grant stream selected, require some or all the following grant deliverables:

• Financial statement
• Narrative report
  • Limited participant demographic information will also be required for Indigenous Workforce Planning labour market activities, such as career awareness projects, symposiums and other projects that do not involve direct training.
• Participant data:
  • For direct training, detailed participant data information is required as per the Canada – Alberta Workforce Development Agreement (Annex 2: 3.0) and the Canada – Alberta Labour Market Development Agreement (Schedule 2, Annex 3: 4.0).
  • For all active projects requiring participant data, see the following ‘Participant data reporting’ section for important changes to the reporting requirements.
  • Participant data contains sensitive information that should not be sent via email. Before each quarter, you will receive a secure link from [email protected] to submit the participant data. Do not send participant data directly over email.

Important changes to participant data reporting requirements 

Reporting requirements for the participant data deliverable have been updated as of June 2026.

For all active projects requiring participant data (refer to Appendix C of the Grant Contribution Agreement), the reporting template must be completed in full, and will be due on the following dates:

• April 1 (first submission, for any activity occurring January 1 – March 31)
• October 1 (second submission, any activity occurring April 1 onwards would be added to prior submission)
• March 31 (final submission, all activity that occurred between January 1 to December 31 should be included, as well as the required 90-day follow-up with all participants upon project completion)