Apprenticeship Agreement Template (Canada)
Updated on August 8, 2026
Canadian apprenticeship runs on a registered training agreement, not a private contract. The apprentice and the sponsor sign an agreement with the provincial or territorial apprenticeship authority — the body that holds the regulatory authority for apprenticeship training and trade certification under provincial or territorial legislation — and the apprentice receives their own apprenticeship number from that authority. Registration is a joint step, not something an employer files alone.
This template is the employment agreement that sits alongside that registration: duties, hours, wage progression, supervision, safety, technical training release and what happens when the arrangement ends. It replaces a widely copied free apprenticeship contract that has the apprentice pay the employer a monthly participation fee, makes them buy their own tools and examination sittings, and contains no wage clause at all. A Canadian apprentice is an employee covered by provincial employment standards, and the training is the sponsor's obligation rather than a service the apprentice buys.
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Apprenticeship Employment Agreement
This Agreement is made on between of , acting as (the Sponsor) and of , born (the Apprentice). It records the employment terms that apply alongside the registered apprenticeship training agreement identified below.
- Trade:
- Apprenticeship authority:
- Training agreement reference:
- Apprenticeship number:
- Start date:
- Position:
- Work location:
1. Precedence
The registered apprenticeship training agreement, the requirements of the apprenticeship authority, any applicable collective agreement, and the employment standards legislation of prevail over this Agreement to the extent of any inconsistency. Nothing in this Agreement reduces an entitlement under that legislation.
2. Trade Status and Supervision
The trade is a voluntary trade in this province. Certification is not a legal precondition to performing the work, but the Apprentice is registered so that hours count towards certification, and the Sponsor will provide supervision consistent with the apprenticeship authority's requirements, including any applicable ratio of .
The Apprentice's supervising journeyperson is , who is responsible for day-to-day instruction, safety direction and signing off on skills as they are demonstrated. Progress is reviewed at: .
3. Duties and Hours
The Apprentice's main duties are: . Scheduled hours are per week. The trade requires approximately of on-the-job hours in total, and the Apprentice has completed to date. The Sponsor will provide work of the kind and variety needed for the Apprentice to acquire the skills required by the trade.
4. Technical Training
The Apprentice will attend in-school technical training as follows: . Employment status during that training, wages, tuition, materials and travel are treated as follows: . The Sponsor will release the Apprentice to attend scheduled technical training and will not require the Apprentice to forgo it.
5. Wages
The journeyperson rate for the trade at this workplace is per hour. The Apprentice is currently at , paid per hour, . The rate increases at , and the Sponsor will apply each increase without the Apprentice needing to ask. The rate will never fall below the applicable minimum wage or any rate set by a collective agreement.
No fee, deposit, tuition or other charge is payable by the Apprentice to the Sponsor for this apprenticeship, and no deduction will be made from the Apprentice's wages for training, equipment, personal protective equipment, examination or certification costs, except where a deduction is expressly permitted by employment standards legislation and authorised in writing.
6. Tools and Equipment
The Apprentice is expected to acquire and maintain a personal hand-tool kit appropriate to the trade over the course of the apprenticeship, supported by a tool allowance of where one is provided.
The Sponsor supplies and maintains, at its own cost, the equipment, machinery, specialist tools and personal protective equipment the Apprentice needs to perform the work safely, together with the training required to use them.
7. Health and Safety
The Sponsor will provide a safe workplace and instruction, training and supervision proportionate to the Apprentice's inexperience. The Apprentice will follow safety directions, use protective equipment as instructed, and report hazards and incidents promptly. The Apprentice may refuse work they have reasonable cause to believe is unsafe, in accordance with occupational health and safety legislation, without reprisal, and will not be assigned work requiring a licence or certification they do not hold.
8. Confidentiality
The Apprentice will keep the Sponsor's confidential business information, customer information and pricing confidential during and after the employment. This does not restrict the Apprentice from using the general skills and knowledge of the trade that the apprenticeship exists to teach, or from discussing wages and working conditions where the law protects that discussion.
9. Ending the Arrangement
Either party may end the employment by giving written notice, subject always to the minimum notice and any other entitlement required by employment standards legislation. Ending the employment and dealing with the registered training agreement are separate steps: the training agreement is completed, suspended, cancelled or transferred through the apprenticeship authority in accordance with its requirements.
The Sponsor will report the Apprentice's accumulated hours to the apprenticeship authority in accordance with its requirements, and will promptly notify the authority and the Apprentice of any completion, suspension, cancellation or transfer of the training agreement, so that hours actually worked are recorded and can be carried to a new sponsor.
10. Completion and Certification
This is a Red Seal trade. On completing the required hours and technical training and passing the certification examination, the Apprentice may obtain a certificate of qualification with the Red Seal endorsement, which is recognised across Canada without further examination. The Sponsor will support the Apprentice in applying for examination and will confirm hours to the authority.
What happens to the Apprentice's employment after completion is: .
Sponsor
Date:
Apprentice
Date:
Parent or guardian (if applicable)
Date:
Sponsor, apprenticeship authority and the registered agreement
The Canadian vocabulary matters. The counterparty to the apprentice is the sponsor — a person or body approved and registered along with the apprentice through a formal apprenticeship training agreement with the provincial or territorial authority. A sponsor is often the employer, but it can also be a union, an employer group or another approved body, and the sponsor's duties survive a change of the individual who supervises day to day.
This template records the sponsor, the apprenticeship authority, the trade, the registered training agreement reference and the apprentice's apprenticeship number, and states that where this document conflicts with the registered agreement or the applicable employment standards legislation, those prevail.
It also asks whether the trade is compulsory or voluntary in the province, because that changes who may lawfully do the work and under what supervision, and whether a journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio applies. Those are provincial questions with real consequences on site, and an imported template will not even ask them.
Hours, technical training and Red Seal
An apprenticeship is measured in on-the-job hours plus periods of in-school technical training, with the totals set for the trade by the provincial authority. This template records the total hours required, the hours completed to date where the apprentice is transferring in, the technical training schedule, and how time in school is treated — whether the employment continues, whether the apprentice is paid, and how tuition, materials and travel are handled.
Those are exactly the points that go unsaid and then become disputes at the first block release. Employment standards and income-support arrangements during technical training differ by province, so the template requires the position to be stated rather than assumed.
Where the trade is a Red Seal trade, completion can bring an interprovincial endorsement recognised across Canada without further examination. The template records whether the trade is Red Seal and what the sponsor will do to support the apprentice's certification, because mobility is one of the main reasons an apprentice chooses a trade in the first place.
Wages that rise, and nothing charged to the apprentice
Apprentices are employees. Their wage is usually expressed as a percentage of the journeyperson rate that steps up by level, and the steps are contractual events that need diarising rather than noticing at a review. This template records the journeyperson rate, the current percentage and level, the current hourly rate and the date and trigger for the next increase.
It also states plainly that no fee, deposit or tuition charge is payable by the apprentice to the sponsor, and that no deduction is made from wages for training, tools, personal protective equipment or examinations. Deductions from an employee's pay are restricted by provincial employment standards legislation and cannot simply be written into a contract of this kind — which is precisely what the source template attempts in reverse.
Tools are handled honestly rather than ideologically. Many Canadian trades expect an apprentice to build a personal tool kit over time, so the template distinguishes between personal hand tools the apprentice acquires and the equipment and protective gear the sponsor supplies at its own cost, and requires any tool allowance to be stated.
Supervision, safety and ending the arrangement
The sponsor's core obligation is supervision and instruction sufficient for the apprentice to work safely and learn the trade. The template names the supervising journeyperson, records the ratio if one applies, and sets review points so progress is discussed during the apprenticeship rather than at the end of it.
Occupational health and safety duties sit on top of everything and are non-delegable. A young or inexperienced worker needs instruction and supervision proportionate to that inexperience, has the right to refuse unsafe work under provincial legislation, and must not be assigned work requiring a certification they do not hold.
Ending the arrangement is two steps, not one. The employment ends under the notice provisions and the applicable employment standards, and the registered training agreement is separately dealt with through the apprenticeship authority — completion, suspension, cancellation or transfer to a new sponsor. The template makes notifying the authority an express obligation, because an apprentice whose hours are not recorded loses time they have actually worked.
Clause-by-clause guide
- Sponsor and apprenticeship authority
- Records the sponsor, the provincial or territorial authority, the trade, the registered training agreement reference and the apprentice's apprenticeship number.
- Precedence
- States that the registered training agreement and the applicable employment standards legislation prevail over this document where they conflict.
- Compulsory or voluntary trade
- Records whether the trade is compulsory in the province and whether a journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio applies, which affects who may lawfully do the work.
- Hours and technical training
- Total on-the-job hours, hours completed to date, the in-school schedule, and how time in technical training is treated and paid.
- Wage progression
- The journeyperson rate, the apprentice's percentage and level, the current hourly rate and the date or trigger for the next step-up.
- No cost to the apprentice
- No fee, deposit or tuition charge, and no deduction from wages for training, tools, protective equipment or examinations.
- Tools and equipment
- Distinguishes personal hand tools the apprentice builds up from equipment and protective gear the sponsor supplies, and records any tool allowance.
- Supervision and ratio
- Names the supervising journeyperson, records any required ratio, and sets progress review points.
- Health and safety
- Instruction proportionate to inexperience, the right to refuse unsafe work, and no work requiring certification the apprentice does not hold.
- Ending the arrangement
- Employment notice under employment standards, plus the separate step of dealing with the registered training agreement through the authority.
- Certification and Red Seal
- What the apprentice receives on completion, whether the trade carries a Red Seal endorsement, and what the sponsor will do to support certification.
Canadian compliance checklist
Apprenticeship is provincial and territorial. Confirm the detail with the authority in your jurisdiction.
Register the training agreement with the apprenticeship authority
The apprentice and the sponsor sign an apprenticeship training agreement with the provincial or territorial apprenticeship authority, which holds the regulatory authority for apprenticeship training and trade certification. The apprentice receives their own apprenticeship number from that authority.
Ellis Chart - glossary of apprenticeship termsUnderstand who the sponsor is
The sponsor is the person or body approved and registered along with the apprentice through the formal training agreement, and may be an employer, a union or another approved body. Registration is a joint step by sponsor and apprentice, not a filing the employer makes alone.
Skilled Trades Ontario - sponsor an apprenticeCheck whether the trade is compulsory and whether a ratio applies
Some trades are compulsory in a given province, restricting who may perform the work, and journeyperson-to-apprentice ratios can apply on site. Both are provincial questions that affect how the apprentice may be deployed.
Treat the apprentice as an employee
Provincial employment standards apply — minimum wage, hours, overtime, vacation, public holidays, notice of termination and restrictions on deductions from pay. Nothing in an apprenticeship agreement reduces those entitlements.
Charge the apprentice nothing
No fee, deposit or tuition charge should be payable by the apprentice to the sponsor, and deductions from an employee's wages are restricted by employment standards legislation and cannot simply be written into the contract.
State how technical training time is handled
Say whether employment continues during in-school periods, whether the apprentice is paid, and who bears tuition, materials and travel. Arrangements and income support differ by province.
Meet occupational health and safety duties
Instruction and supervision proportionate to inexperience, the right to refuse unsafe work, and no assignment of work requiring a certification the apprentice does not hold. Protective equipment is the sponsor's cost.
Notify the authority when the arrangement changes
Completion, suspension, cancellation and transfer of a registered training agreement all go through the apprenticeship authority. An apprentice whose hours are not reported loses time they have actually worked.
Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship (Red Seal Program) - Government of Canada
How to complete this apprenticeship agreement
- Record the registered training agreement. Enter the sponsor, the apprenticeship authority, the trade, the training agreement reference and the apprentice's apprenticeship number.
- Set the trade status and supervision. Say whether the trade is compulsory or voluntary, record any required ratio, and name the supervising journeyperson.
- Set hours and technical training. Enter the total hours required, hours completed to date, the in-school schedule and how that time, tuition and travel are treated.
- Set the wage progression. Enter the journeyperson rate, the current percentage and level, the hourly rate and the date or trigger for the next increase.
- Add the guardian block if needed, then sign. Switch on the parent or guardian section for an apprentice under the age of majority, download the DOCX or PDF, sign and give the apprentice a copy.
Frequently asked questions
Does this replace the registered training agreement?
No. The apprenticeship training agreement signed with the provincial or territorial apprenticeship authority is what makes someone a registered apprentice and gives them an apprenticeship number. This document covers the employment terms alongside it and says that the registered agreement and employment standards prevail if they conflict.
What is a sponsor, and is it the same as the employer?
Not necessarily. The sponsor is the person or body approved and registered with the apprentice through the formal training agreement, and may be an employer, a union or another approved body. Using the right term matters because the sponsor's obligations survive changes in who supervises the apprentice day to day.
Can a sponsor charge an apprentice for training?
No employer-side template should be built that way, and this one is not. The apprentice is an employee, training is the sponsor's obligation, and deductions from wages are restricted by provincial employment standards. The source template this page replaces charges the apprentice a monthly fee and has no wage clause at all.
How is an apprentice's wage set?
Usually as a percentage of the journeyperson rate that steps up by level, subject always to the provincial minimum wage and any collective agreement. The template records the journeyperson rate, the current percentage and level, and the date or trigger for the next increase so the step-up is not missed.
Is the apprentice paid during in-school technical training?
It depends on the province, the trade and any collective agreement, and income-support arrangements exist in some cases. The template requires the position to be stated — whether employment continues, whether wages are paid, and who bears tuition, materials and travel — rather than leaving it to the first block release.
Who buys the tools?
The template separates the two. Many Canadian trades expect an apprentice to build a personal hand-tool kit over time, and any tool allowance is recorded. Equipment, machinery and personal protective equipment are supplied by the sponsor at its own cost, because safety duties cannot be shifted onto a lower-paid worker.
What is a compulsory trade?
One where provincial law restricts who may perform the work, typically requiring registration as an apprentice or a certificate of qualification, and sometimes a journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio on site. The template asks the question because it changes how an apprentice may lawfully be deployed.
What happens if the apprentice leaves before finishing?
Two things, and the template treats them separately. The employment ends under the notice provisions and applicable employment standards, and the registered training agreement is dealt with through the apprenticeship authority — cancelled, suspended or transferred to a new sponsor. Reporting hours worked to the authority is an express obligation, because unreported hours are hours the apprentice loses.
Related templates
Disclaimer
This template and guide are for general information only and are not legal or employment advice, and no Canadian lawyer has reviewed them. Apprenticeship, employment standards and occupational health and safety are provincial and territorial — check the rules that apply where the work is done.
