August 19, 2014 – Winnipeg, MB – Employment and Social Development Canada
The Governments of Canada and Manitoba are helping equip young Canadians in Winnipeg with the skills and work experience needed to get jobs, today announced the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages and Member of Parliament for Saint Boniface, on behalf of the Honourable Candice Bergen, Minister of State (Social Development), along with Erna Braun, Manitoba Minister of Labour and Immigration.
Employment Solutions for Immigrants is receiving a total of more than $1.1 million from both governments for two projects to help 140 youth facing barriers to employment find jobs.
One project will help 120 immigrant youth gain life and employability skills through workshops on topics such as job search techniques, communications skills and understanding Canadian employer expectations. The participants will also benefit from work experience with local employers. Potential sectors for work placements include retail, health care, professional and technical services, and the trades.
The other project will provide 20 youth with work experience in high-demand fields such as manufacturing, transportation and health care services. In addition, youth will participate in workshops on topics such as time management, communications skills, goal setting and conflict resolution.
As Canada is facing labour shortages, the Government is investing in youth employment, skills and apprenticeship programs to help connect young Canadians with available jobs.
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The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada’s commitment to help youth make a successful transition to the workplace. With annual funding of approximately $330 million, YES helps youth between the ages of 15 and 30 get the information and gain the skills, job experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition to the workplace. YES includes the Skills Link and Career Focus programs and the Canada Summer Jobs initiative, which creates thousands of job opportunities for students every summer.
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 the confidence to return to school. Skills Link has helped over 179,000 youth since 2006.
Career Focus helps post-secondary graduates transition to the labour market through paid internships and helps to provide youth with the information and experience they need to make informed career decisions, find a job and/or pursue advanced studies. Since 2006, the Career Focus initiative has helped over 26,000 youth acquire skills needed to join the job market.
Canada Summer Jobs 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 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year. Since it began in 2007, Canada Summer Jobs has helped over 260,000 students.
Through Economic Action Plan 2014, the Government of Canada is investing $40 million towards supporting up to 3,000 internships in high-demand fields and $15 million annually towards supporting up to 1,000 internships in small and medium-sized enterprises under the Youth Employment Strategy.
The Government of Canada also provides a range of support—including Canada Student Loans, Canada Student Grants, the Canada Learning Bond and the Canada Education Savings Grant—to help young Canadians pursue and save for their post-secondary education, so that they can acquire the skills and training they need to succeed in the job market and in the future economy.
