As Canada pours funding into upskilling its workforce, linking existing programs with the latest AI tools helps build more future-ready skills in traditionally underrepresented populations.

A Canadian workforce that has the emotional savvy to judge risks, calculate odds, and experiment in a dynamic and uncertain economic environment is what the country needs. It’s also what Canada doesn’t have enough of – not yet, anyway. Fortunately, progress is being made, even as national headlines bemoan the dearth of highly skilled workers.

Between 2018 and 2023, the last five-year period where figures are available, Canada’s Future Skills Centre (FDC) spent more than $300 million CAD on programming to level up workers nationwide. Some 87,000 Canadians have received hands-on skills training as a result. This effort was driven, in part, by the results of an international adult skills benchmark from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This benchmarking study revealed that Canadian adult literacy and numeracy skills were declining relative to global averages. To make up the difference – and quickly – Canadians will need to make the most of the technologies around them. One central technology, especially in recent years, is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Using AI to unlock and level up existing skills

Digging deeper into the numbers, researchers could see that some of the literacy and numeracy shortcomings captured by the adult skills assessment weren’t actually caused by a true lack of skill. The issue was language. Recent immigrants were scoring significantly lower than the overall Canadian population, in part because they didn’t have real-time translation support to help them quickly interpret the incoming questions (delivered in French or English, depending on the province).

In the past, that would have been difficult or expensive for businesses to provide. Now, thanks to AI tools and the prevalence of smartphones, the cost is negligible for everyone to have translation support at all times, even for smaller language groups. As a result, AI-supported tools can help pinpoint where foundational language skills are the issue and knock down communication barriers. This allows for quicker and more effective knowledge transmission, better educational outreach results, and faster upskilling and reskilling for newer immigrants so that they can more smoothly merge into the Canadian labor pool.

Using AI to lower the stakes and allow test runs

Another challenge being addressed by the adoption of AI tools is the need for risk-taking in business. Canada’s business climate has, in the past, been associated with low risk tolerance. This is associated with keeping businesses smaller than they could be and preventing Canada’s companies and workers from living up to their full potential.

With AI tools, employees at every level can try out low-cost or even no-cost situational modeling. This lowers the financial and emotional stakes of taking risks. It is also more inclusive and can help break down communication and confidence barriers. Even those who have traditionally not been considered tech savvy can ask an AI assistant, “Show me what would happen if X did Y,” expanding both their technological horizons and their comfort with experimentation.

Already, AI-driven tools from the Future Skills Centre’s programs have been improving outcomes for skill matching programs and business development programs, particularly with Indigenous communities and recent immigrant groups. In a February 2025 report published in coordination with the University of Toronto, the FSC noted that the AI tools it was testing were also creating more equity by improving decision-making experiences and reducing inherent biases in modeled scenarios.

This study result was viewed as positive for all involved. It is especially impactful as the FSC reports that some 42% of Canadian workers need at least some reskilling to be more comfortable with AI use in the future. By including AI in training programs and making it a part of what lowers the stakes and enables safety in risk-taking, this approach is addressing two issues at once. It is helping eliminate a historical reluctance to take risks and building modern comfort with AI tools as assistants in creating winning outcomes.

Using AI for targeted personal development

A final key to making all of Canada’s workers ready and able to thrive in the future is targeted personal development. There is no denying that different populations face different challenges, and even within groups, individuals have unique learning needs. The best possible approach would be a fully customized approach, but this has historically been very difficult to design and deliver at all, much less at an affordable price point.

Fortunately, AI has arrived and is increasingly being deployed as a supportive aid in targeted personal development. Thus, within a larger program built to help recent immigrants overcome communication barriers, individualized language training modules can be deployed. Traditionally excluded populations can be onboarded into skill-building programs in a more appropriate way while still delivering the same core skills training. Further, the potential for continuous analysis of participant progress and participant feedback can help programs and skill-building investments adapt to how well (or not) the information is being received and internalized.

These are just a few examples of what’s beginning to happen now, and only the tip of what’s possible. Canada needs workers who can handle the future, and recent immigrant groups, Indigenous peoples, and traditionally underrepresented individuals have the capacity to meet the need if they can learn the skills needed. By leaning on AI tools to help deliver existing programs and skill-building training across the nation, the FSC and its partners can more quickly and cost-effectively upskill and reskill anyone interested, regardless of their background.

If all goes well, by the time the next benchmarking study results are released, Canada will have been able to turn things around. Instead of continuing to fall behind other developed nations, the country will be able to use technology not just to make up the difference, but also to surge ahead of its peers. In this way, Canada can have the future-ready workforce it needs and be able to shine as a bright light and example to others.