Best summer ever
News Release
Record number of jobs and opportunities in Toronto through Canada Summer Jobs program
June 18, 2016 Toronto, Ontario Employment and Social Development Canada
More students than ever will find work this year in Canada’s largest city under the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program, the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced today.
In total, employers in Toronto have received approval to hire 6,300 students this summer across 25 constituencies. That is up from the 2,700 student jobs created through the program last year in 23 constituencies before boundary changes were enacted for the 2015 election.
The announcement includes 105 jobs approved with 58 organizations in Toronto to help support and employ at-risk youth. These additional projects and jobs were approved by Minister Mihychuk to support Toronto communities dealing with an increase of violent crime this summer. Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, and a number of Toronto-area MPs joined together last week to discuss building safe communities and addressing the root causes of crime.
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau announced in June that more than 77,000 jobs were approved for funding for students across Canada through the CSJ program. That number is more than double last year’s 34,000 positions and roughly 7,000 more than originally anticipated when the Government announced a boost to the funding in the federal budget earlier this year.
Supporting youth employment and opportunities is part of the Government of Canada’s approach to help the middle class and Canadians seeking to join it.
Quote
“More Toronto students than ever before are going to benefit from the Canada Summer Jobs program this year. More funding and more jobs mean more opportunities for Toronto youth. I’m working with Toronto area MPs to build strong, safe, inclusive neighbourhoods across the city through the Canada Summer Jobs program.”
– The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
Quick Facts
- Across Ontario this summer:
- $88.5 million in funding has been approved—an increase of $54.8 million, or 162 percent, from last summer.
- A total of 31,364 jobs have been approved for funding, compared to 12,097 jobs in 2015—an increase of 159 percent.
- A total of 7,015 jobs in small businesses have been approved for funding in Ontario, compared to 1,135 jobs in 2015—an increase of 518 percent.
- Budget 2016 increased funding for the Canada Summer Jobs program by $339 million over three years, beginning in 2016–17.
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Contacts
John O’Leary
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
819-654-5611
Media Relations Office
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-994-5559
media@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
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Backgrounder
Youth Employment Strategy
The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada’s commitment to help youth overcome barriers to employment and make a successful transition to the workforce. YES helps youth between the ages of 15 and 30 get the information, skills and job experience they need to make a successful transition to the workforce. YES includes Skills Link, Career Focus and Summer Work Experience and is delivered by 11 federal departments.
- Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment—including single parents, youth with disabilities, Indigenous youth, young newcomers and youth in rural and remote areas—to develop employability skills and gain experience they need to find a job or return to school
- 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 or pursue advanced studies.
- 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.
Each year, the Government invests approximately $330 million in YES to help young people gain the skills and experience they need to find and keep good jobs.
Budget 2016 builds on that amount, adding $278.4 million in 2016–17 to help nurture and develop underused or unrecognized talent, such as Indigenous youth, youth with disabilities, single parents and newcomers by:
- creating new green jobs for youth;
- increasing the number of youth who access the Skills Link program;
- supporting employment opportunities in the heritage sector under Young Canada Works; and
- making new investments in the Canada Summer Jobs program.
Canada Summer Jobs
In February 2016, the Government announced that it will create up to 35,000 additional jobs in each of the next three years under the Canada Summer Jobs program. The investment of $339 million over three years starting in 2016–17 will nearly double the number of job opportunities supported by the program.
Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for students.
CSJ creates summer job opportunities and provides valuable work experience for youth intending to return to their studies full-time in the next school year. The program also helps employers generate jobs that focus on priorities important to their local communities as well as on a number of national priorities that include:
- employers who help welcome and settle Syrian refugees to Canada, as well as Syrian students;
- Indigenous people, who are among the fastest-growing segments of the Canadian population;
- small businesses working to become more innovative, competitive and successful, in recognition of their key contribution to the creation of new jobs; and
- cultural and creative industries looking to create jobs and to strengthen our rich Canadian identity.
This latter priority will support the planning of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017.
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