Renewed funding for Career Launcher provides more opportunities for young people in green jobs

OTTAWA, June 5 2023 Career Launcher will continue providing valuable work and learning opportunities for young people in the natural resources sector with new funding from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Announced today by Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, NRCan will provide an additional $2.35 million over the next two years (2023-2025) in funding to Career Launcher to support at least 130 youth through internships and pre-employment opportunities.

Launched in 2015, Career Launcher is now one of Canada’s most popular internship programs, providing wage subsidies and hiring incentives to small and medium-sized employers to hire young people. Natural Resources is one of four streams of Career Launcher internships that facilitate pathways for students and recent graduates to gain hands-on experience and develop crucial skills for the workforce. Other streams are in clean technologies, digital technologies, or those contributing to positive change using the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Since 2015, Career Launcher has created opportunities for over 2,000 young people to participate in hands-on learning experiences, gain skills to find meaningful employment, and make a positive change in their community.

Career Launcher, a Colleges and Institutes Canada program, is one of nine delivery partners receiving funding from Natural Resources Canada’s Science and Technology Internship Program—Green jobs. STIP – Green Jobs provides funding to employers in the natural resources sector across Canada, including in remote and Northern communities, to provide youth with work experience and skills training opportunities that contribute to positive environmental outcomes.

Career Launcher is guided by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 4 Quality Education, SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities, and SDG 13 Climate Action. This new funding means more young people will be able to gain hands on experience in fields like responsible resource management, and environmental stewardship through Career Launcher, helping to build a more sustainable future for Canada.

Learn more about Career Launcher.

Quotes:

“We are so proud of Career Launcher and its growing popularity. This new funding means Career Launcher will celebrate a milestone 10-year anniversary in 2025! We hope that Career Launcher will continue to provide opportunities for youth, especially those from equity-deserving groups, including women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ2+ communities, newcomers, and visible minorities including Black and other racialized communities for years to come.”

  • Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada

“Our growing clean industries need talented and well-trained young people working in science and technology. Whether it is building electric vehicles, mapping clean energy sites, or managing our growing smart-grids, the interns and trainees we are supporting today will be the leaders of tomorrow. A net-zero future means many more sustainable jobs, and today’s investment is an important step towards creating them.”

  • Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

About Colleges and Institutes Canada

Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is the national and international voice of Canada’s largest post-secondary education network. It advocates, builds capacity, and drives knowledge to strengthen Canada’s publicly supported colleges, institutes, CEGEPs, and polytechnics. With more than 95% of Canadians living within 50 km of a member institution, and thanks to its extensive reach around the globe, CICan works to future-proof communities in Canada and abroad.

We respectfully acknowledge that CICan’s offices in Ottawa are located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation.