Creating job opportunities for Canadians
Over 8,000 Canadians to benefit from job training, work experience in new projects across Canada
GATINEAU, QC, April 15, 2016 /CNW/ - The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced today 198 new training projects aimed at helping thousands of Canadians get the skills needed to overcome barriers to employment and join the middle class.
The funding, which totals $65 million, will be provided to organizations across the country for projects to help under-represented groups, such as Indigenous people, youth, and people with disabilities, build their skills and prepare for the workforce of the future.
Many of the projects will provide instruction in to develop or enhance skills, such as workplace safety, as well as offer hands on experience in a job category of interest, such as a skilled trade, retail, hospitality, the food industry or business services. Examples of projects include:
• Up to 50 Indigenous youth in Calgary will improve their financial literacy and workplace skills. They will attend workshops to develop their computer skills, take courses on life management and receive certificates in first aid. This will be followed by months of work experience in the not-for-profit sector, retail, food industry or trades.
• Eight youth in Plum Point, Newfoundland and Labrador will participate in employment skills workshops on topics such as teamwork and First Aid/CPR. Participants will also gain work experience in industries such as fishing, forestry and tourism.
• In Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, up to 48 youth will participate in workshops to upgrade employment skills, such as teamwork and workplace communication. They will also have the opportunity to gain work experience in industries common to the region, including agriculture and retail.
More lists of approved grants and contributions projects will be publically released periodically.
Quote
"These collaborative partnerships between community organizations and our government are helping Canadians who face extra challenges to employment. These projects will certainly help individual Canadians gain the skills, abilities and work experience they need to find and maintain good employment, and they will also help strengthen and grow Canada's middle class."
– The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
Quick Facts
• Funding for these projects will be provided through the following programs: Skills Link; Career Focus; Summer Work Experience; Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities; Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program; and Flexibility and Innovation in Apprenticeship Technical Training. For example:
o A total of 164 projects will support programs and services that provide youth with job skills workshops, hands on experience and career development.
o Twenty-eight projects will help people with disabilities prepare for the workforce or self-employment through job skills workshops and hands-on experience.
• Budget 2016 includes new investments in job creation and workforce development, including:
o $165 Million in new funding for the Youth Employment Strategy to help young people gain the skills, abilities and experience they need to find and maintain good employment
o Doubling funding in the Canada Summer Job program to hire up to 70,000 youth this summer
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Backgrounder
Youth
Each year, the Government invests more than $330 million through its Youth Employment Strategy to help young Canadians gain the skills and work experience they need to start their careers and contribute to the economy.
Budget 2016 builds on the $330 million and has announced an additional $165.4 million in 2016–2017 to:
• create new green jobs for youth;
• increase the number of youth who access the Skills Link program, which helps young Canadians overcome barriers to employment; and
• support employment opportunities in the heritage sector under the Young Canada Works program.
Since 2005, over 772,000 young Canadians have received the skills upgrading they need to enter the labour market through the Government of Canada's youth employment programs. These programs help youth between the ages of 15 and 30 get the information and gain the skills and work experience they need to succeed in the workplace.
Earlier this year, the Government announced an additional $339 million for the Canada Summer Jobs program, to be delivered over three years, starting in 2016–2017.
Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment—including single parents, youth with disabilities, young newcomers and youth in rural and remote areas—to develop the skills and gain the experience needed to find a job or return to school. Skills Link has helped over 230,000 youth since 2005.
Career Focus helps post-secondary graduates transition to the labour market through paid internships and helps provide youth with the information and experience they need to make informed career decisions, find a job and/or pursue advanced studies. The Career Focus initiative has helped over 37,000 youth acquire skills needed to join the job market since 2005.
Summer Work Experience provides wage subsidies to employers to create summer employment for secondary and post-secondary students. The Summer Work Experience program includes Canada Summer Jobs. The Canada Summer Jobs program provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year. Since 2005, Summer Work Experience has helped over 505,000 students.
People with disabilities
The Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities assists Canadians with disabilities to prepare for, obtain and keep employment, or become self-employed, to help them participate fully in the workforce and increase their independence. The program emphasises work experience for youth with disabilities, that the involvement of both employers and community organizations in in the design and delivery of projects and hands-on work experience. The Government provides $40 million annually to the Opportunities Fund and has helped 40,000 people with disabilities across Canada since 2005.
Adults and apprentices
The Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program, under the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES), supports the development, assessment and broad dissemination of tools and best practices to allow Canadians to improve their essential skills to better prepare for, get and keep a job, and adapt and succeed at work. OLES efforts ultimately aim to support job seekers, workers, as well as those at greater risk of experiencing low literacy skills, such as adult Canadians with lower educational attainment, Indigenous people, Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) and newcomers.
Since 2010, OLES has worked with over 5,000 organizations, such as provincial and territorial governments, post-secondary education institutions, training service providers and employers to help improve the essential skills of adult Canadians, including almost 200 grant and contribution projects.
The Flexibility and Innovation in Apprenticeship Technical Training pilot project funds third-party organizations, such as community colleges, industry trainers and union training centres, to test innovative and flexible approaches to improve access to apprenticeship training and increase completion rates. The pilot project also seeks to raise the level of employer engagement in technical training for apprentices and increase the overall efficiency of apprenticeship training systems.
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John O'Leary 4/15/2016 |
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