The Workplace Skills Strategy (WSS) supports a Workplace Skills Initiative (WSI) fund.
This purpose of the fund is described in the following way by the federal human resources
department on the WSS website:
The Workplace Skills Initiative (WSI) is an important part of the Government of
Canada’s long-term economic plan, Advantage Canada. The WSI supports projects
that address skills-related workplace challenges, in order to improve productivity and
position Canadian workers to effectively compete in the global knowledge-based
economy. (HRSDC n.d.)
According to the second and most recent call for proposals for the WSI in 2007, priority
will be given to applied projects that will ‘‘develop skills for workers’’ while demonstrating
‘‘lessons learned/best practices’’ that can apply across contexts. ‘‘Impact’’ must be
demonstrated—on employers, employees, stakeholders and workplaces. Projects must be
‘‘promising’’, a term that is not well defined. Purposes for the research are provided
explicitly. Overall, projects are to develop solutions: ‘‘support the adoption, testing and