Question Period Note: Gender Equality and Youth

What is the Government doing to advance gender equality as it relates to youth?

•Young people are actively working to shape a better future, including building a more inclusive Canada.
•The youth population in Canada is more diverse than ever and will only become more so - more young people are openly identifying as transgender and non-binary and the Indigenous youth population continues to grow.
•The Government of Canada is committed to engaging and empowering young people of all sexualities and genders to be leaders in shaping a more equal society by:
o Ensuring young women’s perspectives are considered in the development of government policies and programs through the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and other youth engagement;
o Providing opportunities for young women to be leaders in their communities through programs like the Canada Service Corps;
o Providing capacity-building and projects funding for 2SLGBTQI+ community organizations, including those that support 2SLGBTQI+ youth through the Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan; and
o Engaging youth online to increase awareness of gender-based violence and empower young people in Canada to shift behaviours, through a public awareness campaign.

Investment
•Since 2015, the Department for Women and Gender Equality has provided $45.3M to youth focused projects.
•Through Budget 2016 and Budget 2019 investments, Employment and Social Development Canada, through the Canada Service Corps Program, is providing $92.8M in contributions funding each year to organizations which provide service opportunities for youth to make a difference in their communities, positioning young women as leaders in their communities.
•Through the Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan, providing new capacity-building and projects funding for 2SLGBTQI+ community organizations, which will prioritize 2SLGBTQI+ communities experiencing additional marginalization, including 2SLGBTQI+ youth. In 2023, WAGE launched a call for proposals of approximately $25M for the 2SLGBTQI+ Community Capacity Fund.

Results
•Budget 2018 provided $7.2 million over five years to Women and Gender Equality Canada for the initiative National Conversations on Gender Equality with Young Canadians which resulted in:
o A National Youth Working Group, made up of 22 diverse youth from across the country, that co-developed an approach to engage young people on gender equality.
o Work with five National Indigenous Organizations to engage with Indigenous youth on gender equality in a culturally relevant way.
•Since its launch in 2018, the Canada Service Corps Program has funded over 24,000 service placements and over 6,600 micro-grants for youth across Canada. Girls and young women are over-represented among Canada Service Corps participants which is allowing them to develop meaningful life skills and experience.
o In 2021-2022, 60% of Canada Service Corps participants identified as female and 16% of participants identified as 2SLGBTQI+.

WAGE Project Examples
•Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada was one of the five Indigenous organizations that received funding to engage with Inuit youth on gender equality. They received $446,777 over 4 years for their project ‘National Conversation on Gender Equality with Young Inuit Canadians”. This project focused on Inuit youth engagement and empowerment on gender equality and gender diversity, recognizing the intersectionality of gender issues in the context of gender norms, values, and experiences in Inuit communities.
•White Ribbon Canada received $499,519 to engage men and boys to promote gender equality and prevent violence. Part of this project focuses on implementing a social marketing campaign, featuring compelling calls to action to inspire young men across Canada to change their attitudes and behaviors, to seek help when needed, and to embrace their roles as allies and change makers.
•Platform (Young Women’s Leadership Network) received $ 899,935, for the Framing Our Future project. This project supported the organization’s capacity building to encourage civic leadership and participation among Black, Indigenous, and racialized young women and gender-diverse youth. The project also developed an approach to support them to take action to advance gender equality at the national level.
•Plan International Canada received up to $1,500,000 in funding to scale program interventions, resources, and tools through a systems change approach to address the root causes of gender inequality in Canada by working with educators, youth-serving organizations, and other stakeholders to redefine harmful beauty norms and stereotypes affecting body confidence and self-esteem among girls and gender-diverse youth between the ages of 10-17.
•ARC Foundation received $453,003 to adapt, pilot and evaluate models to expand the capacity of K-12 educators to create schools inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identities for all students.

Canada Service Corps Project Examples:
•Women’s Enterprise Skills Training of Windsor received $1.3M in Canada Service Corps funding over 4 years (2019-2023) to provide social, professional and personal development opportunities to underrepresented female youth by engaging them in the co-creation and participation in meaningful service opportunities that respond to community gaps and needs, ultimately leading positive change in their community.
•Achēv’s EmpowerHER project received over $700,00 in Canada Service Corps funding over 4 years (2019-2023) to increase civic engagement among female youth while teaching them leadership and life skills through in-class training prior to completing volunteer service placements in their community.

Prime Minister’s Youth Council (PMYC) – Examples of direct youth advisory activities
•Since the start of its mandate, Cohort 6 of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council has met, virtually and in person, with the Prime Minister, Minister, cabinet and elected officials, and policymakers to discuss topics such as COVID-19, mental health, vaccine uptake among youth, anti-racism, access to affordable Internet, Sustainable Development Goals, increasing safety and support for transgender individuals, and addressing violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people, and more recently, the next National Report on Poverty.
•The advisory focus of the next in-person council meeting, to be held in May 2024, will be on housing affordability and poverty.
•The Federal Youth Secretariat, where the Prime Minister’s Youth Council is housed, is receiving $3 million in funding from 2023 2024 to 2025-2026.

BACKGROUND:

•Rigid gender norms and gender inequalities continue to affect the lives of youth in Canada. Some youth are impacted differently or disproportionately, depending on intersectional identity factors (e.g. gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, race, Indigeneity, etc.).
•For example, rigid gender norms can place undue expectations on youth and impact mental health, attitudes and behaviours, and healthy relationships. For example:
o Young women and girls may internalize norms on the ideal feminine body. These norms can lead young women and girls to develop mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, among others, when they feel pressure to try to conform with these norms.
o Young men and boys are often expected to, or believe that they should, hide their emotions. This real or perceived expectation may lead men to feel like they cannot reach out for help when they experience hardship or affect their ability to develop healthy relationships with other youth.
o Young transgender, gender diverse and non-binary people may face particular challenges when they feel they must comply with rigid gender norms or when they face backlash for their noncompliance.
•Department officials continue to seek opportunities to include youth in relevant activities. Coordination with the Federal Youth Secretariat at Canadian Heritage is critical to ensuring complementarity. In addition, there are currently 12 youth advisory councils, featuring youth of all genders, established across federal departments and agencies providing counsel aligned with their specific mandates.
•The recruitment process for Cohort 7 of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council is currently underway, with an anticipated start date of February 2025. As with previous cohorts, the focus of this recruitment process is to ensure a diverse representation of youth are on the Council – particularly Indigenous youth, youth from official minority language communities, 2SLGBTQI+ and gender diverse youth, and youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
•As part of Canada’s Youth Policy, Canada is committed to publishing the State of Youth Report every four years. The first Report was published in August 2021 and the second is planned to be released in 2025. Youth engagement opportunities will start in the fall of 2024 and end in the winter of 2025.

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