Canada Summer Jobs is an initiative of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, which aims to provide flexible and holistic services to help all young Canadians develop the skills and gain paid work experience to successfully transition into the labour market.

The program provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years. Funded employers are not restricted to hiring students — all youth aged 15 to 30 years may be eligible participants.

Objectives

The Canada Summer Jobs program objectives align with the redesigned Youth Employment and Skills Strategy and are as follows:

• Provide quality work experiences for youth;
• Respond to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers; and,
• Provide opportunities for youth to develop and improve their skills.

Employer Flexibilities

For CSJ 2020, the Department introduced temporary flexibilities to respond to the needs of employers and youth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will continue to offer these temporary flexibilities for 2021 in order to continue to support employers and youth. The following temporary flexibilities will be in place for CSJ 2021:

• Wage subsidies
• Employment period
• Changes to project and job activities

Eligibility Criteria

• Not-for-profit employers
  • Entities under the “not-for-profit” category are established for purposes other than financial gain for their members. This category includes:
    • Community, charitable or voluntary organizations, including faith-based organizations (for example, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques);
    • Associations of workers or employers as well as professional and industrial organizations;
    • Indigenous not-for-profit organizations;
    • Non-governmental organizations;
    • Unions;
    • Sector councils; and,
    • Not-for-profit Band Councils.
• Public sector employers
  • Public sector employers include public health and public educational institutions and municipal governments. This category includes:
    • Public community colleges and vocational schools;
    • Public health, including public hospitals, nursing homes, senior citizen homes, rehabilitation homes;
    • Public degree-granting universities and colleges;
    • Municipal governments and agencies, including regional legislative bodies and departments;
    • School boards and elementary and secondary institutions; and,
    • Territorial governments.
• Private sector employers
  • Private sector entities are established in order to generate a profit or to provide an economic advantage to their proprietors, members or shareholders. Private sector employers must have 50 or fewer full-time employees across Canada to be eligible for CSJ funding. Full-time employees are those working 30 hours or more per week.
  • This category includes:
    • Bodies, incorporated or unincorporated, including partnerships and sole proprietorships;
    • Financial institutions;
    • Business, incorporated or unincorporated bodies, which include
      • federal Crown corporations operating in a competitive environment and not ordinarily dependent on appropriations for operating purposes as indicated in Schedule III, Part II of the Financial Administration Act;
      • provincial and territorial Crown corporations recognized as operating in a competitive environment and not ordinarily dependent on appropriations for operating purposes;
      • private health and educational institutions; and,
      • independent owners of franchises (franchise operators are eligible if there are 50 or fewer full-time employees working full-time in the franchise owner’s operations across Canada, regardless of the number of business numbers involved);
    • Indian Band corporations;
    • Private Band Councils; and,
    • Private universities or colleges.
• 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 under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 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.

For more information, visit Canada Summer Jobs.