Canada’s Science and Technology Internship Program - Green Jobs

Canada’s Department of Natural Resources through the Science and Technology Internship Program (STIP – Green Jobs) is supporting the clean energy transition through inclusive and sustainable job creation for youth (ages 15 to 30). STIP – Green Jobs, partner of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy since 1997, offers funding to qualified employers throughout Canada and provides youth with the work experience and training needed to launch successful careers in the natural resources sector (clean energy, forest, mining and minerals, and earth sciences). Since 2017, STIP – Green Jobs has committed to incorporating equity, diversity and inclusion into all aspects of the programme to better serve youth experiencing barriers based on feedback from youth, employers and delivery partners. Actions include setting targets and aims for participation of youth from employment equity groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons living with disabilities, and members of visible minority communities), removing barriers such as the post-secondary education requirement, and expanding the delivery by working with smaller, regionally-focused and Indigenous-focused organisations.

Over the past five years, the programme created over 4 000 green jobs for youth across Canada. Typically, 80% of youth successfully transitioned into full-time employment and over 85% of youth jobs were in the clean technology sector. At least 60% of youth participants identified as belonging to one or more employment equity groups, while Indigenous and northern youth participation increased from 6% in 2018 to 22% in 2021.

In addition to the programme changes, STIP also ran a pilot project in 2020 to work with Indigenous focused organisations to better understand the employment and training needs of Indigenous youth, the important cultural aspects that could be included in the programme design, and how NRCan’s intake process for delivery partners could be adjusted to include smaller and more Indigenous-led organisations. Through this pilot, STIP had the opportunity to work with and learn from the Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE) Network through the development of their Generation Power Program, a holistic and culturally focused training programme. 

In the first year, the curriculum was designed with and for youth and employers. In the second year, ICE implemented Generation Power and successfully created over 40 internship and training opportunities for Indigenous youth in the clean energy sector. 

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