{"id":103756,"date":"2026-04-14T08:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103756"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:29:12","slug":"jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Craig Lord Canada must break the stigma around careers in the skilled trades if the Liberals want to achieve their infrastructure and homebuilding agenda, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said on Monday. Hajdu said that when she was growing up in Thunder Bay, Ont., students who attended a skilled trades high school in the city were &#8220;deeply stigmatized&#8221; by their choice. &#8220;At that time, there was a push \u2026 that the true path to success and to status was to gain a university degree. And there was a discouragement of pursuing the skilled trades,&#8221; she told education workers and reporters at the University of Ottawa. Hajdu said that stigma was misguided, as many students pursuing careers in the trades can be just as successful, if not more, than those&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F14%2Fjobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Craig Lord Canada must break the stigma around careers in the skilled trades if the Liberals want to achieve their infrastructure and homebuilding agenda, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said on Monday. Hajdu said that when she was growing up in Thunder Bay, Ont., students who attended a skilled trades high school in the city were &#8220;deeply stigmatized&#8221; by their choice. &#8220;At that time, there was a push \u2026 that the true path to success and to status was to gain a university degree. And there was a discouragement of pursuing the skilled trades,&#8221; she told education workers and reporters at the University of Ottawa. Hajdu said that stigma was misguided, as many students pursuing careers in the trades can be just as successful, if not more, than those... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F14%2Fjobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Craig Lord Canada must break the stigma around careers in the skilled trades if the Liberals want to achieve their infrastructure and homebuilding agenda, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said on Monday. Hajdu said that when she was growing up in Thunder Bay, Ont., students who attended a skilled trades high school in the city were &#8220;deeply stigmatized&#8221; by their choice. &#8220;At that time, there was a push \u2026 that the true path to success and to status was to gain a university degree. And there was a discouragement of pursuing the skilled trades,&#8221; she told education workers and reporters at the University of Ottawa. Hajdu said that stigma was misguided, as many students pursuing careers in the trades can be just as successful, if not more, than those\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-14T12:29:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-14T12:29:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":944,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/jobs-minister-urges-youth-to-pursue-skilled-trades-despite-generational-stigma\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma - 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