In early 2010, the Canadian Steel Trade and Employment Congress, (CSTEC) commissioned the Toronto firm of PRISM Economics and Analysis to conduct research for a new Study which would focus on the human resource issues and challenges facing the four sectors of the industry; basic steel making, the steel service centers, the steel fabricators, and the foundries.

Along with their senior staff, PRISM engaged steel academic, Dr. Peter Warrian (Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto) for a year long process of data gathering across the Canadian steel landscape.