Describe the Red Seal Program

The Red Seal program is the Canadian standard of excellence for skilled trades, setting common standards to assess the skills of tradespersons across Canada. The program has been in existence for over 50 years and is administered by each of the designated provincial and territorial apprenticeship authorities under the guidance of the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA). The formal name of this program is the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program.

The Red Seal is not a certificate. It is an endorsement that is affixed to a provincial or territorial trades certificate upon successful completion of all provincial requirements and the Red Seal exam. It is available in 57 different trades, and over 625,000 tradespeople in Canada have obtained the Red Seal Endorsement (RSE) to date. The top 10 Red Seal trades based on endorsements issued to date are:

1. construction electrician
2. automotive service technician
3. carpenter
4. industrial mechanic (millwright)
5. plumber
6. welder
7. heavy-duty equipment technician
8. cook
9. steamfitter/pipefitter
10. truck and transportation mechanic

A listing of all Red Seal trades can be viewed at:

Importance of the Red Seal

The Red Seal is important because it provides a standard of competency that is recognized across Canada and is respected in a number of other countries. It denotes that an individual has the knowledge and skill sets for accomplishing work in their trade.

Once you have received your Red Seal endorsement, you may use the RSE acronym on your résumé, business cards, and promotional information.

Red Seal exam

The Red Seal exam is administered to determine whether apprentices and experienced tradespeople meet the Canadian Red Seal standards. The examinations are developed for each of the Red Seal trades with the assistance of industry trade experts from across the country and are based on the National Occupational Analysis (NOA). (More information on the NOA is provided below.)

To qualify to write a Red Seal exam, an individual must have fulfilled all requirements set out by their provincial/territorial apprenticeship authority. The criteria for eligibility to write the exam differ from one trade to another and depend on the type of applicant (e.g., apprentice, trade qualifier/challenger, journeyperson).

The Red Seal Endorsement Official Mark on a provincial/territorial trades certificate signifies that you have completed the Canadian recognized standard of competency in your trade. In some cases (e.g., in British Columbia), the Red Seal exam is taken in lieu of a provincial exam in the final level of the apprenticeship training. In other provinces or territories the exam may be taken in addition to other provincial requirements.

To receive your Red Seal endorsement, you must achieve a mark of 70% or higher on the Red Seal exam. If you are unsuccessful in passing the exam, you must wait a set period of time before your next attempt. The waiting period is determined by the individual province or territory.

Should you be unsuccessful a second time, you will be required to follow a course of study as defined by your jurisdiction (province or territory) prior to any subsequent attempt.

A guide on the Red Sea Exam is available at:

National Occupational Analysis

The National Occupational Analysis (NOA) document for each trade is the basis for the Red Seal Program as well as all provincial and territorial training programs. These profiles are one of the outcomes of the first Canadian National Apprenticeship in Trades and Industry conference held in 1952. Every NOA provides a comprehensive analysis of a trade completed by a committee of industry experts, and is representative of all jurisdictions. An NOA looks at all of the following issues:

• safety
• scope of the trade, which provides:
  • a general summary of the trade, including all major activities covered in the trade
  • the work environment
  • employment options
  • hazards specific to the trade
  • attributes of workers
  • overlap with other trades
• occupational trends, including changes in technologies, techniques, products, and materials
• essential skills summary for all nine essential skills

Following this information, the NOA provides a detailed analysis of the trade by block, task, and sub-task. Provided at least 70% of the responding jurisdictions perform a sub-task, then it is included in the NOA. Below each sub-task title is a chart indicating whether that particular sub- task is performed in each of the Canadian provinces and territories. The additional notations in this field are “ND,” indicating that a trade is not designated in that jurisdiction, or “NV,” indicating that the analysis was not validated by a jurisdiction.

The full NOA for the carpentry trade can be viewed at:

At the end of each NOA is a series of appendices that list:

• all of the tools and equipment required for a trade
• a glossary of terms associated with the trade
• a list of acronyms
• block and task weighting by province and overall national average
• a pie chart indicating the national breakdown of exam questions by block
• a Task Profile Chart

To review the National Occupational Analyses for all trades visit:

Self Test