Building Inclusive Cybersecurity Talent Pathways
Canada’s cybersecurity sector faces a dual challenge: a persistent shortage of skilled workers and systemic barriers that limit access for women, newcomers, and racialized professionals. Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst—Toronto Metropolitan University’s national centre for cybersecurity training and innovation—has responded by developing accelerated, employer-informed pathways into the field. Since 2021, Blueprint has partnered with the Catalyst to generate evidence that supports program design, improvement, and long-term sustainability. This work was supported by funding from the Government of Canada through the Future Skills Centre.
Building the evidence base
Blueprint’s work began with the evaluation of the Accelerated Cybersecurity Training Program (ACTP), a publicly funded, seven-month program combining industry-recognized certifications, career coaching, and employer engagement.
A Race for Talent
In A Race for Talent (2022), Blueprint examined employer hiring practices and workforce needs in Canada’s cybersecurity sector. Drawing on interviews and sector analysis, the report explored how employers assess skills, credentials, and experience—and where misalignment with traditional training pathways persists. The findings underscored the importance of employer-informed program design, industry-recognized certifications, and inclusive recruitment practices to expand and diversify the cybersecurity talent pipeline.
Future Talent
Future Talent (2023) assessed early participant outcomes from the Accelerated Cybersecurity Training Program (ACTP). Using participant and employer data, the report examined learner experience, skill development, and initial labour market outcomes. Findings showed strong learner satisfaction, increased confidence and employability, and meaningful entry into cybersecurity roles—particularly for women, newcomers, and racialized professionals who have been historically underrepresented in the sector.
Designing for sustainability
As ACTP’s public funding concluded, the Catalyst faced a common challenge in the skills ecosystem: how to sustain a high-quality, equity-focused program without ongoing grant support. Blueprint continued its partnership through the evaluation of Certifications for Leadership in Cybersecurity (CLIC), a streamlined, tuition-based successor designed to retain ACTP’s core strengths while moving toward financial sustainability.
Certifications for Leadership in Cybersecurity Final Report
The CLIC Final Report (2025) examined learner reach, experience, short-term outcomes, and program costs across CLIC’s first two cohorts. Our evaluation shows that CLIC largely succeeded in maintaining access for women, newcomers, and racialized learners while transitioning to a participant-funded model. Learners gained skills, confidence, and industry-recognized credentials, and the program demonstrated a viable path toward sustainability, while also surfacing important trade-offs related to affordability, learner preparedness, and employer demand in a shifting labour market.
Preserving Foundational Skills in AI-Enabled Early-Career Work
Blueprint’s next evaluation is examining the Catalyst’s Preserving Foundational Skills in AI-Enabled Early-Career Work project (2026). The project is exploring how AI is changing entry-level cybersecurity roles and the skills early-career professionals need to succeed. Drawing on an employer needs assessment, the Catalyst developed a Skills Transformation Framework and a simulated learning environment designed to help learners practice foundational skills in AI-enabled workplaces. Blueprint is assessing the design and early testing of these tools, including how employers and participants perceive their relevance and usefulness. The findings will inform further refinement while offering broader lessons about how cybersecurity training can adapt as technology and employer expectations evolve.
Why this work matters
Together, these studies provide a rare longitudinal view of how an inclusive workforce program can evolve—from pilot, to scale, to sustainability—while staying grounded in evidence. For policymakers, practitioners, and funders, this body of work offers practical insights into designing labour market pathways that are both equitable and resilient.
All reports were funded by the Government of Canada through the Future Skills Centre.
Our team and partners live and work on the traditional territory of many Indigenous people across Turtle Island. Blueprint’s home office is situated in the area known as Tkaronto, an area that has been caretaken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Huron-Wendat for thousands of years. We strive to meaningfully incorporate principles of reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in our day-to-day work, as is our collective responsibility as treaty people, which requires ongoing reflection and collective action.
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