What Is It?

Sponsored by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and delivered in partnership with the YMCA, the Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program places interns in host federal government organizations. Its main objective is to enable unemployed or under-employed young Canadians between the ages of 15 and 30 to acquire the experience and skills they need to enter and fully participate in the labour market.

Created in the spirit of the Youth Employment Strategy, the Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program has allowed the creation of 9,000 internship opportunities for youth since its inception in 1997. In February 2000, the Program was renewed on a permanent basis and will therefore continue beyond its original three-year term.

An internship is not a specific position, and the intern does not replace a federal employee. An internship is a flexible, practical assignment, geared to providing a young person with meaningful opportunities to develop employability skills in preparation for subsequent employment or self-employment at the end of the internship. The concept of internship implies structured learning experiences and coaching by a mentor.

Mentoring is a key feature of the program. Each internship must have an identified mentor who will assist the intern in acquiring knowledge and skills as well as visualising career goals and ways to reach them.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada ensures that the Program benefits the groups of young people who need it most and who have the highest unemployment rate: it sets a full 50% of the internships for youth who have not completed high school or face multiple barriers to employment, 30% for high school graduates and 20% for youth who have graduated from College or University.

Why Do We Need It?

The rate of unemployment for our young people is almost double that of other age groups in Canada. Not because they don't have the motivation, the ambition or the energy: the real barriers facing unemployed young people are inexperience and a lack of specific employment skills.

Without experience and without relevant skills, and especially if they left high school without graduating, many young people have little chance of getting and holding a job. But that cycle of "no job, no experience, no experience, no job" can be broken with your contribution.