Evidence of meeting #106 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Thank you all for being here today.
I have a question for Mr. Hillier.
You mentioned that the organization Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization. You mentioned that your organization runs on donations, and that they are received from government. Which orders of government invest in the organization?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Canada
It can be any level of government. Usually it's provincial because, obviously, the education programs that we're providing are aligned with the local provincial education ministry. One of the largest, though, is the innovation entrepreneurship ministry in British Columbia. They provide probably half of the total for the whole country by comparison. Usually the donations are from—
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
And that's from the $20 million, so half of that. Is that what you're referring to?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Canada
Of the $20 million, about 5% is done by government.
That's roughly $1 million across the whole country, across all levels of government, for the 16 charters and the national office, but about half of that, so about $500,000, is from one ministry in British Columbia.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Then where do you get the rest of the monies? Is it from private donors?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Canada
Corporations really see themselves as the beneficiary of our work. They want to invest in tomorrow's workforce, and they're very generous in Canada. They have active and very well-engaged corporate social responsibility programs, and they actively volunteer but also donate to JAC's programs. A good percentage of our funding comes from corporations, but also individuals and foundations, etc.
Conservative
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Thank you to our presenters. I'm going to be sharing my time with MP Ruimy.
My first question is for Mr. Hillier.
We've heard a lot of testimony recently about people advocating for the expansion of the Canada summer jobs program into the Canada youth jobs program. That would help young people who cannot afford to take on unpaid internships break into fields in which previous experience in that particular field is essential as a prerequisite for paid employment. Can you give me your opinion? In your view, would a Canada youth jobs program help more young people, and particularly those from historically marginalized groups, and those living in poverty, break into the business world and learn the skills they need in order to become a successful entrepreneur, engineer, or technology developer?
Then I would like to ask Mr. Cash the same question.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Canada
Of course, we would support anything that provides an opportunity for today's youth. For the at-risk and marginalized youth, I think, the challenge is accessing them. It's finding out where they are and having that network of communication so that they can be identified and supported. They face other challenges beyond just regular employment and funding opportunities, whether it be self-employment opportunities.... Yes, we think it's a great thing to continue; however, there are other opportunities, avenues, and partnerships that should be explored that help access and actually tighten the reach to those individuals who are at risk, are marginalized, and wouldn't traditionally find access to those programs as other students may.
Co-Founder and President, Urban Worker Project
For clarification, are you asking about an expansion of the Canada summer jobs program specifically?
Liberal
Co-Founder and President, Urban Worker Project
A hybrid that isn't just located during the summer months but could potentially—
Co-Founder and President, Urban Worker Project
Yes, in fact, I think that's one of the shortcomings of the Canada summer jobs program. It's a great program for giving young people an experience in the jobs world but it's a limited time frame.
Co-Founder and President, Urban Worker Project
Although I much agree with my colleague here, especially for young people from immigrant communities, for example, I think they are facing all sorts of complicated barriers.
Access to the experience is important, but that access has to be coupled with other resources, and we need to think about this in a much more holistic way. We have to be thinking about access to affordable housing, public transportation, and those kinds of pillars that really make a difference for young people.
Liberal
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Thank you very much.
We're going to go quickly. Ms. Ross, you were talking about your program and you said there were how many currently in the program?
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Twenty-four. You said next year it's going to go up to...?
Senior Lead, Computing Education, Shopify Inc.
In September we're bringing on 20 more, so it will be up to 44.
Senior Lead, Computing Education, Shopify Inc.
There is a step process. They have to be accepted at the university, of course. Then they are also accepted at Shopify. We have a screening process where we start out separating all kinds of things that identify age, sex, culture, religion. We actually review purely on the merit of their answers. What also is quite innovative in terms of what we're doing is that we're not testing privilege. We're not testing if they have had experience with this particular programming language or this particular tool. We actually are doing cognitive testing. Can they think through a problem? We have no time limit. We are basically saying, “These are the problems, take your time, and think your way through.” We use that to inform us on who we want to bring in for interviews, which is a more traditional process at that point. We also look for things like well-roundedness. Have they been in a band, on a sports team, have they volunteered in their community, have they taught something to someone, because we're looking for well-rounded individuals in the program.
