Human Resources Committee on Oct. 18th, 2023

[Kim Thomas, President, Neptune Natation Artistique]

Good evening.

Thank you for welcoming me here this evening.

I am the president and treasurer of the Neptune Natation Artistique club, which is located in the Laurentians region.

The Canada summer jobs program has been a boon to us for many years. It has helped us run a day camp every year for two purposes: to employ students from the region and to enable parents to go to work. There is a critical need for day camps in the Laurentians region. The funding we receive helps us keep the costs of a specialized camp relatively low and enables parents to sign up their children. This helps us recruit new members and keep our club viable.

Thanks to this program, the female students we hire in summer, and rehire every year, become evening coaches during the school year. The program lets us offer them 35 hours of work a week. As someone said earlier, the length of the program is limited to eight weeks, and, if it could be extended, that would give us more resources.

As you know, small not-for-profit organizations, or NFPOs, such as ours were hard hit by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Lost or reduced funding can result in cancelled camps, and that's more or less what happened last year because only one position was recommended for our project. However, in artistic swimming, we can't have only one coach on the pool deck. When the children are in the water, we absolutely need two persons on the deck for safety reasons. Since costs therefore ran too high, too few swimmers registered. That affected our organization throughout the year because we use much of the money from camp registrations to offset turnover costs.

Our small artistic swimming club has 60 swimmers during the year. We make considerable use of this program to create visibility, enable parents to go to work and allow for some turnover during the year.

It's important to understand that altering a program such as this one, when there aren't necessarily any alternative solutions for small organizations such as ours, has a direct impact on their annual budgets.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Thomas.

We'll now begin with the first round of questioning with Ms. Ferreri for six minutes.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Merci, Mr. Chair.

I apologize that my French is not yet there so that I'm confident enough to speak in it. I appreciate your being here and sharing your experiences. I hope you can both hear me with translation.

Is the translation working?

[A voice]

No.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

How about now? I'm going to speak now. Can you hear a translation in your ear?

Good evening and welcome.

Mr. Cantin and Madame Thomas, thank you.

I think what we just witnessed was a bit of what we see in my office as a member of Parliament. Sometimes there's a a barrier in being able to access stuff if you don't know how to use it.

You referred to not being able to access the program. Applying for it...you were saying the website was a challenge for you.

Again, much like the technology you're experiencing at this very moment—and you're really making me realize how deeply I want to learn French—I would ask how you would like to see the program improved so that your very amazing volunteers, who might be seniors and who might not know the technology, know how to apply online or how to do that. That's a big barrier. How do we improve that?

What would you like to see?

[Michel Cantin]

As you can see, it isn't easy for a man of my age—I'm 78 years old—to use technological resources.

Many community organizations also have trouble, particularly because the way to apply to the program is impersonal. For example, sometimes we have problems trying to sign up. One day when I was trying to write $30.00 in French, I wrote it with a decimal point. It took me some time to understand that I had to use a comma. That's one example among many. When I need help dealing with a bug, I call the telephone service at the given number, but the waiting time is 48 hours. I'm sitting in front of my computer and don't want to wait 48 hours, so I hang up.

We should have someone who's responsible for a region such as the Laurentians, for example. I like to solve problems by meeting with people in person. I think we're losing some players.

Now that I've discovered the Canada summer jobs program as a funding source, I want to use it. I want to send a message to a lot of people that I know who live in the region. That'll result in more applications.

I would therefore like to bring the service that the program provides to us in the Laurentians. In other words, I'd like to have someone who is responsible in the region and who could answer our questions and provide information. When I speak to someone from the program and explain my problem, that person can tell me whether what I'm saying is right or not. If I ask someone to call me back, I don't know who I'm dealing with because it could be just anyone.

If the service is provided as it should be, it'll be a gem. A lot of people will be able to get jobs. A lot of organizations will also be able to benefit from the presence of these young people. As a result, both parties will benefit, but so will the community. Everyone will be happy. So we should move the application process closer to the labour market to facilitate things.

I get nervous when January comes around. I prepare my job descriptions and I know I'll have to apply to the program and that it will be a long process. So I'd like to have help available near my home. That would be one way of solving the application problem, for example.

There's another aspect that I especially want to discuss. You must never contemplate cutting budgets. You must always think about increasing them every year unless you stop promoting the program. If that's the case, budgets can be cut. If you continue promoting the program as it should be, it will be a winning ticket every time. That's the message I want to send.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cantin.

I appreciate your answer. I think what you said is what we often hear: Customer service and having people show up to work in the office makes a very big difference.

Thank you very much. I'm sure I'm out of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Ferreri and Mr. Cantin.

Ms. Murray, you have six minutes.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Cantin, thank you for everything you said about the program and its value, as well as about the youth and organizations that benefit from it.

I have a few questions that I would like to ask you, and Ms. Thomas, because you are both beneficiaries of this program.

Is there a process for asking you whether the program has or hasn't worked and what could be improved? Is a survey conducted every year at the end of the program?

[Michel Cantin]

What could be improved? It's working very well.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

No.... Excuse me. I'll use the interpretation.

Has Service Canada surveyed you as an employer to get your feedback?

[Michel Cantin]

Yes, they asked me for my opinion, and I gave it to them. I also gave Mr. Sugrue my opinion earlier. I'm happy to be here because this is so important. I think this is a very important study for everyone because this is a great program. I also benefited from a similar program, for careers at the time, that was managed by the department responsible for employment. I had a labour relations placement with the post office department and was subsequently offered a position. I worked in labour relations, and then staffing, for the post office department. So I know first-hand that this is a good program.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you very much.

So the government is trying to understand what's working well and what can be improved. That's good. The department is gathering those data, not Statistics Canada.

I have another question. My riding took advantage of this program for 15 years or so. Of course, the government doubled the number of program beneficiaries in 2015, but cuts may be made one day. That's what happens over time.

Is it better to have more employees working fewer weeks, or fewer employees working more weeks?

[Michel Cantin]

It should be both.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

If you had to choose one of those options, which would it be?

[Michel Cantin]

Personally, I don't think I had enough weeks.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

That's what I hear in my riding too. It's better to have more weeks, even if that means fewer employees.

I have another question.

Both of you work in the sports sector. Is it important to have students who are focusing on a career in your field, or can other students get a job with you and take advantage of that experience, for example, by learning how to start on time, work hard and solve problems?

[Kim Thomas]

In our case, we generally want female students in a bachelor of kinesiology program seeking a career in sports coaching. Artistic swimming, of course, is a very feminine sport. Consequently, many of our coaches are young women who are studying for a long-term career as coaches or kinesiologists. They therefore benefit directly from the program, but you also have to consider all the benefits that flow from working in a first student job. You have to understand that we have two types of employees in our club: bachelor-level students, but also assistants, young woman 15, 16 and 17 years of age who are working in their first jobs and thus acquiring experience.

It's important not to limit oneself to the idea that the job offered to a youth must absolutely be related to his or her future employment. The program should also be open to students who can acquire their first work experience.

[Michel Cantin]

The same is true in our case. We've had students who are now pharmacists. These were nevertheless good summer jobs for them because they helped them learn how to communicate, to go out and meet with the representatives of the municipalities and so on. They acquired all kinds of experience that served them well in their development.

Both components are important, of course. You mustn't focus solely on students who want a career in the field we propose. We prefer them, but others can definitely take advantage.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Thomas and Mr. Cantin.

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor for six and a half minutes.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks very much to both of you, witnesses from the beautiful Laurentians region. Your testimony is relevant to the purpose of our study, which is simple: to review the funding of the Canada summer jobs program because it has undergone a major cut and to see how we can improve it. I don't think that any member of our committee doubts the value of this program. The task for us is to see how we can improve it.

Ms. Thomas, have you been using the Canada summer jobs program for many years?

[Kim Thomas]

I'm starting my sixth term on the club's board. Before taking up my position, I believe the club had used the program for two years. That means perhaps seven years in total. Including 2020, the year when the COVID‑19 pandemic started and obviously no day camps were held, that means we've definitely been running the camps with the program's assistance for six years.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

You also said in your testimony that you had requested two positions this year, but that you only got one.

[Kim Thomas]

I had requested three.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

That put paid to funding for the youth day camp project, which benefits both the youth participating in the camps and their parents, as well as those who are thus able to acquire initial employment experience for their future.