By Julie Gedeon
Ottawa – The second annual Imagine Marine conference, held on Oct. 7th and 8th in Ottawa, was sold out with 180 delegates from the industry, government, educational institutions, sailing programs and recruiting/training organizations keen to advance maritime workforce development.
“We’re now pushing for a national maritime skills strategy that is supported by industry, labour, the federal government, and provincial governments that have marine sectors and responsibilities,” Julia Fields, the Canadian Marine Careers Foundation’s executive director, shared in welcoming the stakeholders from eight provinces.
The proposed strategy follows discussions held regarding the CMCF’s Canadian Seafarers Pathway Study released in May. The report identifies the urgency of attracting and training new talent given that domestic vessel operators must hire 8,300 new workers by 2029 to fill retiree vacancies and meet industry demand.
Ms. Fields said a comprehensive CMCF-led national strategy would encourage the entire federal government and relevant provincial counterparts to recognize the sector as an in-demand industry facing acute labour and skills shortages. “That recognition would open up existing workforce development funding that already benefits other industries,” she said.
“Secondly, we need a government round table or working group that coordinates across the various departments and different levels of government in collaboration with marine stakeholders, so we can address some of the systematic issues in terms of training and workforce development that extend across different departments,” she added.
Ms. Fields emphasized the need to fund and deliver key resources of benefit to the entire sector. “And these all need to be tracked and continually improved.”
An initial example is the $670,000 that CMCF received from the Ontario government to development an end-to-end workforce program in partnership with Georgian College, marine employers, and labour organizations that will train and upskill 64 seafarers within 12 months.
Capt. Eben Marc, president of the Master Mariners of Canada, echoed the need for a holistic strategy. “We’re not attracting enough people to sustain the workforce,” he stressed. “A strategic coordinated approach that involves partnerships among governments, post-secondary institutions and industry stakeholders is a must.”
Transport Canada updates
Keynote speaker Joanna Manger, Transport Canada’s director general of Marine Safety & Security, acknowledged the extent of the challenges. “Unless we make impactful changes, Canada’s marine training system will only be able to fill about 40% of future openings in key marine operations.”
To alleviate immediate or near-term vacancies, Transport Canada has signed reciprocal agreements with 12 nations to recognize each other’s administration of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) certification. Transport Canada is also investigating the feasibility of forming additional reciprocal agreements with the interest expressed by 16 other countries.
As of September 2025, Transport Canada received 1,068 applications under the reciprocal arrangement program, with 823 being from Ukraine. The highest number of endorsements has also been for 558 Ukrainian seafarers. Other agreements have not been as successful as initially anticipated. For example, taxation laws in the Philippines make it unattractive to work as sailors abroad.
To augment domestic hirings, Transport Canada has opened 21 seafarer recruitment agencies. It has also established an equivalency program in collaboration with the Department of National Defence and Veterans. “This program will allow naval trades certain credits towards obtaining commercial marine certification,” Ms. Manger explained.
An update of marine personnel regulations nears completion with the draft amendments slated to be published in the spring along with a regulatory impact analysis.
Efforts to improve the recruitment and training of under-represented populations – particularly Indigenous peoples, Northerners and women – continues with the Government of Canada having spent $58 million on a marine training program since 2016 ,and $29.8 million announced last spring as new funding through March 2027. Since 2019, the program has directly supported more than 1,700 graduates.
Critical Navy shortages
Vice Admiral Angus Topshee noted the Royal Canadian Navy is currently lacking one in four sailors required and has a serious visibility issue in Canada. “Of all the Canadians that walk into our recruiting centres, only 6% express any knowledge of or interest in the Navy,” he lamented.
The RCN is revamping its recruitment and training approach. It has already handed over ice/Arctic navigation training to the Canadian Coast Guard. A next goal is to use the 24 Navy Reserve Divisions throughout the country to recruit and train new people in seafarer basics. Initial recruiting and training had been centralized within the Canadian Forces since 1968, but the Navy plans to take back some responsibilities so that it can prioritize training individuals for general sailor duties.
“For us, that’s all the basic military training qualifications, plus what we call naval environmental training, which is shipboard damage control, firefighting, flood control, sea survival – all of the basic deck watch duties and we want to layer on top of that the Transport Canada deckhand certification,” Vice Admiral Topshee explained. “So if, for whatever reason, people are unsuccessful with us or realize they enjoy the marine sector but not the Navy so much, they are ready for career opportunities with others.”
Another goal is to significantly increase the number of patrol boats that are ideal for training with a crew of four and up to 20 trainees at a time. Only four are currently service, but Vice Admiral Topshee hopes to increase that number to 24 to 30 so they can be stationed within the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, and East Coast in addition to British Columbia.
“We’re also designing a system whereby the moment new recruits show up for work, we establish an individual learning profile to know people’s aptitude strengths, listen to their career preferences and, where we identify a knowledge or skills gap, investigate whether we can solve that issue by sending that person to established training,” he says. “Because 90% of Canadians live within 50 kilometres of a post-secondary institution.”
Coinciding with its 60th anniversary, the Canadian Coast Guard Academy changed its name from Canadian Coast Guard College this past September to reflect how much it has evolved in terms of providing varied, advanced and specialized marine training. Everything from the latest search-and-rescue equipment to voyage digitalization is requiring a larger berth of knowledge and skills. “Our mandate is to ensure that all operational personnel receive the training required to do their jobs and keep ships operational,” said Dr. David Gerbasi, the Academy’s director of Studies. “That now includes deckhands, oilers, logistics people and other fleet sailing personnel and those looking for shoreside transitions to ensure they have the necessary competencies and skills.”
Karen Kancens, Vice President of the Shipping Federation of Canada, noted the 30th anniversary of the marine transportation certification program that it offers in partnership with Concordia University. “It’s designed for people entering or looking to make a lateral or upward move on the shoreside of the marine sector and was developed because there was no way to acquire that knowledge and skills other than through direct on-the-job training can be inefficient and costly for employers and employees,” she related. Taught by working professionals, it explains everything from world trade shifts, the most likely maritime customers, lading bills to cargo handling methods. Many of the 250 graduates since 1995 have moved up in the sector.
Other conference topics included building awareness among young Canadians through sailing and cadet programs, as well as better ways to identify and deal with workplace bullying and harassment.
- Photo by Jeffrey Meyer Photography of Leadership panel starting off the business sessions. L to R: Stéphanie Aubourg, CSL Group; Magda Diaz, SAAM Towage; Erick Bergeron, Group Desgagnés; Demetrios (Jim) Athanasiou, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.
- Intro photo by Jeffrey Meyer Photography of Vice Admiral Angus Topshee of the Royal Canadian Navy during keynote address.
- Photo by Jeffrey Meyer Photography of Julie Fields, Executive Director of Canadian Marine Careers Foundation, and Joanna Manger, Transport Canada Director General of Marine Safety and Security.