Question Period Note: Implementing Canada's Youth Policy(PCH)

How is government involving youth in the development of programs and policies?

•Young people in Canada are not just the leaders of tomorrow, they are the leaders of today. They have innovative ideas and unique perspectives on how the government should address opportunities and challenges to build a stronger and more inclusive Canada.
•We continue to engage and listen to Canada’s youth, guided by Canada’s
Youth Policy, as we work towards publishing the second State of Youth Report in the
summer of 2025.
•The Prime Minister’s Youth Council is preparing to welcome its seventh cohort of young people from across Canada, whose new members will be announced in the winter of 2025.
•Meanwhile, the sixth cohort continues to provide youth perspectives on important issues such as promoting youth mental health and addressing climate change.
•We want to engage, encourage, and empower young people from all walks of life to be active members of society.

Investment
•The Youth Secretariat’s budget for 2024-2025 is $1.88 million (pending the implementation of supplementary funding of $1 million). The Secretariat does not administer any funding programs.
•The Government has made a wide range of major investments to support youth and their evolving needs, examples include:
o Budget 2024 announces the creation of a National School Food Program, which will provide $1 billion over five years to Employment and Social Development Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and Indigenous Services Canada to work with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners to expand access to school food programs.
o Budget 2024 proposes to provide $351.2 million for the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy to provide well-paying summer job opportunities, including in sectors facing critical labour shortages, such as housing construction, and to provide job placements and employment supports to youth.
o Budget 2024 also proposes to provide $500 million over five years for the creation of a new Youth Mental health Fund which will help younger Canadians access the mental health care they need.

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 non-governmental organizations looking for advice or support.
o The second State of Youth Report will continue and expand upon the work undertaken in the first report, doubling the target number of youth across Canada during the engagement phase.
o Government departments and agencies continue to set up and consult their own youth councils to help advise them. There are close to a ten across government, and more are 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 planned to be released in the summer of 2025.

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.
•Youth can be defined as the stages between adolescence to early adulthood. No universal age range defines the youth demographic, and the federal government uses several which falls into similar ranges. Statistics Canada, for example, defines youth between 15-29 years, whereas for Employment and Social Development Canada, it is 15-30. The Youth Secretariat follows the United Nations definition of youth as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years. Members of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council are aged between 16 and 24 at the time of their application.
•The Prime Minister’s Youth Council is a forum for youth to share their non-partisan perspectives with the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada. Presently, the Council is composed of 16 diverse young Canadians who hold two-year terms. Cohort 6 started their mandate in February 2023, and Cohort 7 will be announced in winter 2025. The current Cohort 6 of the Council has met with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues on topics such as mental health, poverty and homelessness, anti-racism, and immigration.
•There are other Youth Councils advising various departments and agencies across government. These councils include:
o National Youth Advisory Committee (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
o Youth Leadership Team - Tobacco Control and Vaping (Health Canada)
o Youth Advisory Council (Library and Archives Canada)
o Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Youth Advisory Group
o Chief Science Advisor’s Youth Council
o Canadian Agricultural Youth Council (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
o Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health Youth Advisory Council Youth Advisory Council (Canadian Institute of Health Research)
o Environment and Climate Change Youth Council
o Natural Resources Canada’s Youth Council
•The first State of Youth Report: The Government has 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.
•The first State of Youth report is public and has also been shared with 40 federal departments and agencies to inform the development and delivery of youth-related priorities and programming.

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