Canada Summer Jobs – A more detailed summary, and links

I’ve described some elements of the Canada Summer Jobs program in my 2019 annual report, HERE. In this post, I will provide additional detail about how Service Canada assesses applications for funding. Most of what follows is verbatim from Service Canada, with edits for clarity and brevity.

The Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program is an initiative of the Youth Employment Strategy, which is the Government of Canada’s commitment to help young people between the ages of 15 and 30, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to transition successfully into the labour market. 

The program provides wage subsidies to employers from the not-for-profit, public, and private sectors to provide good quality, summer job opportunities and valuable work experience to youth between the ages of 15 and 30. The program is administered by Service Canada.

The program’s Applicant Guide can be found HERE. Additional rules and requirements can be found in the Canada Summer Jobs Articles of Agreement.  

Program funds are allocated by federal electoral district (riding). Applications are assessed for eligibility and are then prioritized according to how they respond to the program’s objectives. After Service Canada officials have assessed and ranked all eligible applications, Members of Parliament are provided with a list of recommended projects for their constituencies (ridings) and are offered the opportunity to provide feedback based on their local knowledge.

Each year, applications for funding to the program exceed the available funding. Applications are assessed only if all of the 15 mandatory eligibility requirements are met, and then assessed for quality in relation to the program’s objectives: quality work experiences for youth; opportunity to develop and improve their skills; and, how the application responds to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers.

Not-for-profit employers are eligible to receive funding for up to 100% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage. Public and private-sector employers are eligible to receive funding for up to 50% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage. Wages in excess of the local minimum wage are wholly the responsibility of the employer.

Employers are required by law to pay all payroll deductions (MERCS, or mandatory employment related costs). Not-for-profit employers are eligible for reimbursement of MERCs up to 100% of their applicable minimum hourly wage.

The duration of the job must be between six and sixteen weeks. Normally, these weeks are consecutive. Applicants are expected to provide employment for the number of weeks approved. Jobs must be full-time from a minimum of 30 to a maximum of 40 hours per week. Any weeks during which applicants provide fewer than the minimum 30 hours of work may be deemed ineligible. Depending on the number of applications and available funding, the agreement may be for fewer jobs, weeks and hours per week than requested in the application. Youth with disabilities or with other barriers to full-time employment may be eligible to work part-time.

Failure to comply with any conditions of a previously funded project is considered in the evaluation of new applications and could result in a decision of ineligibility of new applications.

The Assessment criteria are used to evaluate the quality of applications compared to other projects submitted in this competitive process. The assessment process results in an application score out of 100 points. Applications will be assessed for quality against the following criteria, using information contained in the application:

1. Provide quality work experiences for youth;
2. Provide youth with opportunity to develop and improve their skills; and,
3. Respond to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers.

Objective 1: Provide quality work experiences for youth (worth 40 points)

The quality of the work experience will be assessed against the applicant’s supervision plan and mentoring plan, what skills the applicant will help the youth to develop, the duration of the placement, the wage offered, and the commitment to providing a safe and respectful work environment.

Objective 2: Provide youth with opportunity to develop and improve their skills (20 points)

Applicants must demonstrate the skills that will be developed and how the youth will develop them.

Objective 3: Respond to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers (40 points)

National priorities (20 points)

National priorities are established to help the program achieve its objectives of helping young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, to transition to the labour market.

If applicants do not provide an explanation of how their project supports the national priorities, applicants will not be awarded points for this assessment criterion. If applications demonstrate that they meet more than one national priority, applicants will be awarded additional points.

The national priorities for CSJ 2019 are as follows:

• Organizations which provide services to, and which express an intent to hire, youth who self-identify as being part of the groups which are underrepresented or have additional barriers to participate in the labour market;
• Opportunities for youth to gain work experience related to the skilled trades;
• Opportunities for youth in rural areas and remote communities; and Official Language Minority Communities;
• Small businesses, in recognition of their contribution to the creation of jobs; and,
• Organizations which deliver supports or services to seniors.

Local priorities (20 points)

Local priorities are established for each constituency by Members of Parliament throughout the country taking into account community services and local events, local labour market information, including sectors experiencing labour shortages, and national priorities.

See my first post, HERE, for how I set my local priorities.

Ineligible Employers

The following entities are ineligible to receive CSJ program funding: 

• Members of the House of Commons and the Senate;
• Federal Government Departments and Agencies;
• Provincial and Territorial Departments and Agencies; and,
• Organizations that engage in partisan political activities.

Ineligible Projects and Job Activities

The following projects and job activities are ineligible to receive CSJ program funding:

• Projects consisting of activities that take place outside of Canada;
• Activities that contribute to the provision of a personal service to the employer;
• Partisan political activities;
• Fundraising activities to cover salary costs for the youth participant; or
• Projects or job activities that:
  • restrict access to programs, services, or employment, or otherwise discriminate, contrary to applicable laws, on the basis of prohibited grounds, including sex, genetic characteristics, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression;
  • advocate intolerance, discrimination and/or prejudice; or
  • actively work to undermine or restrict a woman’s access to sexual and reproductive health services. 

Service Canada works under the following definitions:

• As per section 2.1 of the Canada Summer Jobs Articles of Agreement, “project” means the hiring, administration of, job activities, and organization’s activities as described in the Application Agreement.
• To “advocate” means to promote, foster, or actively support intolerance, discrimination, and/or prejudice.
• To “undermine or restrict” means to weaken or limit a woman’s ability to access sexual and reproductive health services. The Government of Canada defines sexual and reproductive health services as including comprehensive sexuality education, family planning, prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence, safe and legal abortion, and post-abortion care.

What Youth Participants are Eligible?

To be eligible, youth must:

• be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of the employment;
• be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred, for the duration of the employment; and,
• have a valid Social Insurance Number at the start of employment and be legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations.

International students are not eligible participants.

Youth hired for a Canada Summer Jobs-funded job cannot displace or replace existing employees or volunteers, employees that have been laid-off and are awaiting recall, employees absent due to an industrial dispute, employees on vacation, or employees on parental leave. Program funding cannot be used for self-employment, and the employer must establish an employer-employee relationship with the youth participant.

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