Question Period Note: Implementing Canada’s Youth Policy

Implementing Canada’s Youth Policy

• Youth in Canada are one of our most important resources. They are more diverse, socially engaged, and educated than ever before and we are working hard to make sure that youth voices are heard.

• The Prime Minister’s Youth Council welcomed its fifth cohort of engaged young people from across Canada in June 2021 and is in the process of recruiting its sixth cohort to advise government decision makers.

• As part of Canada’s Youth Policy, in August 2021, we published the first-ever State of Youth Report about what youth are facing and their priorities.

• We have moved forward in each of the six youth-priority areas identified in the report: Environment and Climate Action; Employment; Innovation, Skills and Learning; Leadership and Impact; Health and Wellness; and Truth and Reconciliation.

Investment
• The Youth Secretariat’s budget for 2022-23 is estimated at $1.5 million. The Secretariat does not administer any funding programs.

• Meeting youth’s evolving needs:
o In the last two budgets alone, the Government has made a wide range of major investments to support youth and their evolving needs:
• Budget 2021 proposed to invest $371.8 million in new funding for Canada Summer Jobs in 2022-23 to support approximately 75,000 new job placements in the summer of 2022. Budget 2022 proposes to provide $47.8 million over five years, starting in 2023 24, and $20.1 million ongoing to launch a new national lab to-market platform to help graduate students and researchers take their work to market.

Results
• Canada’s Youth Policy seeks to “amplify the voices of youth” and help the government “meet their evolving needs”:
• Amplifying the voices of youth in Government:
o The Prime Minister’s Youth Council is consulted regularly by the Prime Minister, members of his cabinet; senior public servants developing youth-related policy and programming; and NGOs looking for advice or support.
o For the first State of Youth Report, almost 1,000 youth from across Canada participated. A Youth Advisory group wrote the report and young artists, young public servants and members of various government youth councils, including the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, all contributed.
o Government departments and agencies continue to set up and consult their own youth councils to help advise them. There are a dozen across government and more in development.

• The Policy also commits to publishing a State of Youth Report every four years. The first Report was published in August 2021 and the second is in planning and development, to be released in 2025.
• The Policy further commits to having youth on the boards of 75 percent of Crown corporations by 2024.
o As per the Privy Council Office, 42 percent of all Canada’s Crown corporations have at least one youth on their board.
o Note: The Privy Council office defines youth as under 40 for this purpose.
o Note: 59 percent of Canadian Heritage Portfolio organizations have at least one youth on their board.

Project examples
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BACKGROUND:

• The Youth Secretariat supports a whole-of-government approach to youth issues and advises federal departments on Canada’s Youth Policy, engaging youth, and the impacts of their programs, policies, and initiatives on young people.
• The definition of “youth” is varied depending on the context, but in general Canada has followed the lead of UNESCO, which uses the 15 to 24 age range for its statistics but defines youth more generally, as a time of transition toward autonomous adulthood and its associated responsibilities and practices.
• The Prime Minister’s Youth Council is a forum for youth to share their perspectives with the Prime Minister (PM) and the Government of Canada. Presently, the Council is composed of 10 diverse young Canadians (aged 16 24) who hold 2-year terms. Cohort 5 started their mandate in 2021. The process to select Cohort 6 is currently underway. Since 2020, the Council has met virtually with the PM and his Cabinet colleagues on topics such as COVID-19, mental health, vaccine uptake among youth, building-back-better post-pandemic, the 2021 and 2022 federal budgets, anti-racism and, access to affordable Internet.
• State of Youth Report: The main sections of the Report were drafted by a Youth Advisory Group. Almost 1,000 youth across Canada contributed to the first Report, including the Prime Minister’s Youth Council.
• Circulation: The Report has been shared with 40 federal departments and agencies to inform the development and delivery of youth-related priorities and programming.

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