The Government of Canada invests over $14.4 million in 17 projects that will foster youth environmental literacy across Canada
Backgrounder
On July 22, 2025, the Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced that over $14.4 million from the Climate Action and Awareness Fund will support 17 projects with the goal of enhancing environmental literacy for young people in Canada.
These projects were selected following an expression of interest process in October 2023. This funding comes from the Climate Action and Awareness Fund, which has, to date, invested over $180 million in 145 projects that will support net-zero emissions by 2050.
Projects
| Recipient | Total | Project description |
|---|---|---|
| Maritime Aboriginal Peoples Council |
$741,487 |
This project will foster ocean and climate literacy for youth aged 5 through 18 in schools across Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick through classroom presentations and public outreach events. Students will learn about the organisms found within the Atlantic Ocean and local freshwater watersheds. |
| Grand Council Treaty #3 Representative Services Inc. |
$782,922 |
This project will deliver knowledge and skills on climate change for children, youth, and adults in Treaty #3 territory in Northwestern Ontario and Eastern Manitoba to become climate leaders in their communities and participate in the emerging green economy. The programming will combine western climate science and Anishinaabe Traditional Knowledge specific to Treaty #3. |
| Aqqiumavvik Society |
$1,500,199 |
This project will develop and pilot a culturally relevant, age-appropriate environmental literacy program to enhance avatimik kamattiarniq (the concept of environmental stewardship) for youth in Arviat, Nunavut. |
| Kitselas First Nation |
$221,700 |
This project will provide Kitselas First Nation youth with the skills and knowledge to address climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the cumulative effects of pollution affecting their traditional territory. |
| BC Parks Foundation |
$1,800,000 |
This project will provide opportunities for students across British Columbia (BC) to learn about and take positive steps to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, both in British Columbia’s provincial parks and in their school grounds and classrooms. |
| Cape Breton University | $326,614 |
This project will conduct participatory analysis on the impact and accessibility of environmental literacy with youth and their teachers from schools in all provinces and territories in Canada. Project participants will also practice methods of policy writing and presentation, as well as co-create teaching materials. |
| Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Southern Alberta Chapter |
$342,524 |
This project aims to develop the environmental literacy and leadership of young Canadians, especially those from underserved communities in Southern Alberta, through training and a mentoring group. This will give youth the skills and perspectives to help them overcome current environmental challenges and participate in eco-advocacy. |
| Ducks Unlimited Canada, on behalf of the Nature Education Collective |
$797,898 |
This project will support the Nature Education Collective to systematically enhance environmental literacy at a national scale in school systems across Canada. Through an integrated package of scalable solutions that support normalizing climate and biodiversity education, this project will work with partner school systems to elevate regional leadership, expand teacher training, and provide inclusive programming directly to students. |
| AquaAction | $635,296 |
This project will help address eco-anxiety in kindergarten to Grade 12 students through a learning program in Montréal, Quebec. The program aims to create a generation of water stewards that will take action to address freshwater issues and contribute to sustainability. This will be done through encouraging entrepreneurial thinking and developing job-ready skills to help young Canadians participate in a sustainable blue economy. |
| Aurora College | $1,461,680 |
This project will provide a wide range of locally and culturally relevant opportunities for junior kindergarten to Grade 12 students and youth to learn about climate change and its impact on the Northwest Territories. This will include in-classroom and on-the-land programming, training for junior kindergarten to Grade 12 educators, and community workshops. |
| The Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation | $939,592 |
This project will provide environmental knowledge, service-learning, and leadership opportunities for young Canadians, particularly Indigenous, BPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ youth and other underserved communities. This project will engage youth in community-based actions linked to the major environmental crises and provide training for educators to best integrate environmental education into their teaching. |
| The Calgary Zoological Society | $1,562,992 |
This project aims to integrate environmental literacy into teacher training and professional development for in-service teachers by identifying non-formal teaching institutions to serve as community practicum sites specializing in environmental education. |
| Wanuskewin Heritage Park Authority | $300,000 |
This project will create materials to enhance interactive ecological education through an Indigenous lens, enhance and develop new guided cultural tours, and augment their video series with a focus on the interconnections between cultures and the land for visitors of Wanuskewin Heritage Park in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. |
| The Starfish Environmental Society | $396,213 |
The goal of this project is to create experiential, Indigenous-led environmental literacy material to support kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers in Six Nations and Hamilton schools to ground youth environmental literacy in Haudenosaunee cultural perspectives. |
| Friends of the Rouge Watershed Inc. | $255,000 |
This project will ensure that students and community volunteers, with a high proportion of first-generation and racially diverse Canadians, have free access to natural spaces in the Rouge Watershed, including environmental education through skills training and hands-on opportunities to restore forest and wetland habitats. |
| Nature Québec | $1,117,814 |
The objective of the project is to green learning spaces by creating micro-ecosystems in schoolyards, while integrating environmental education for students and school staff. This project aims to foster student contact with nature and develop educational materials based on citizen science. By collaborating with experts, the project will assess the impact of environmental practices on student behaviour and raise awareness of climate issues throughout the school community. |
| Conservation Council of New Brunswick | $1,286,043 |
This project will create a province-wide network of environmental educators that will allow all schools in New Brunswick to access current, place-based, educational climate change-centered programming while also giving educators the tools to teach their students outside and utilize their outdoor spaces. |
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