Funding: Canada Summer Jobs

Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to help employers create summer job opportunities for students. It is designed to focus on local priorities, while helping both students and their communities.

Canada Summer Jobs:

  • provides work experiences for students;
  • supports organizations, including those that provide important community services; and
  • recognizes that local circumstances, community needs and priorities vary widely.

Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year.

Application Information

We are not currently accepting applications.

Please note that the period to apply for Canada Summer Jobs 2014 will be from December 2, 2013 to January 10, 2014.

These new dates will allow employers to be notified of their application status earlier.

Eligibility

Please note that submitting a complete and eligible application is a requirement for funding, but is not a guarantee of funding.

Eligible Employers

Not-for-profit and public sector employers and small private sector employers may apply for wage subsidies through the CSJ initiative.
Private sector employers must have 50 or fewer full-time employees across Canada to be eligible. Full-time employees are those working 30 hours or more per week with the employer.

Ineligible Employers

Members of the House of Commons and the Senate, federal government departments and agencies, and provincial/territorial departments and agencies are not eligible for funding under the CSJ initiative.

Note: If an employer is deemed ineligible, the application will not be assessed.

Eligible Student Participants

To be eligible to participate in the CSJ initiative, individuals must:

  • be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of the employment;
  • have been registered as full-time students in the previous academic year and intend to return to school on a full-time basis in the next academic year;
  • be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act; and,
  • be legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant provincial/territorial legislation and regulations.

Note: Foreign students are not eligible.

Eligible Costs

Wage Subsidy

Not-for-profit employers are eligible for up to 100% of the provincial/territorial adult minimum hourly wage. Public and private-sector employers are eligible for up to 50% of the provincial/territorial adult minimum hourly wage. Refer to your provincial or territorial legislation to confirm the minimum wage.

An employer may choose to pay more than the minimum wage; however, the percentage reimbursed through CSJ will apply only to the applicable provincial/territorial adult minimum wage rate. For example, if a private-sector employer pays a student $10.00 per hour in a province where the adult minimum wage is $8.50, the maximum subsidy that will be provided through CSJ will be 50% of the minimum wage, i.e. $4.25.

Mandatory Employment-Related Costs

Employers are required by law to make payments of the Mandatory Employment-Related Costs (MERCs) for their employees. The costs include Employment Insurance premiums, Canada or Quebec Pension Plan contributions, vacation pay, Workers’ Compensation premiums, or equivalent liability insurance (if applicable), health insurance and parental insurance premiums in Quebec and Ontario (if applicable), the Health and Post-Secondary Education Tax in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Health and Education Levy in Manitoba.

For your information, payroll deductions tables can be found on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

Check with the appropriate provincial/territorial authorities to ensure that you have the most up-to-date rate information.

Not-for-profit employers are eligible for reimbursement of MERCs for up to 100% of the adult minimum wage in the province/territory where the activities will take place. All other employers are not eligible for funding to cover MERCs, in whole or in part.

Other Eligible Costs - Students with Disabilities

All applicants may be eligible for additional funding of up to $3,000 per student with a disability to accommodate the student within the workplace. However, only personal tools/adaptations that students require to accomplish tasks covered under a CSJ contribution agreement will be considered eligible.

Eligible Activities

The job must provide meaningful work experience for a student. It must not contribute to the provision of a personal service to the applicant (e.g. the job must not involve gardening, domestic services, child care services, etc., for the applicant).

Duration and Hours of Work

Jobs funded under CSJ must be from six to sixteen weeks in duration. Normally, these weeks are consecutive. Depending on demand and available funding, approval may be given for fewer weeks than requested in an application.

The employer is expected to provide employment for the approved funding period. If employment is less than the minimum six weeks duration, the employment may be deemed ineligible (i.e. costs would not be reimbursed).

Jobs must be full-time (i.e. from a minimum of 30 to a maximum of 40 hours per week). Any weeks during which the employer provides fewer than the minimum 30 hours of work may be deemed ineligible. Some exceptions can be made for students with disabilities or with other barriers to working full-time.

Maximum Contribution

For the purpose of CSJ, the maximum contribution will normally be for a value no greater than $300,000 per employer per province/territory, including MERCs and overhead costs (if applicable).

Number of Participants

There is no maximum number of participants. Depending on demand and available funding, approval may be given for fewer jobs/participants and weeks than requested in an application

Assessment Process

Applications will be assessed in terms of both eligibility and assessment criteria.

The criteria to assess the proposals focus on:

  • service to local communities;
  • jobs that support local priorities;
  • jobs that provide career-related experience or early work experience;
  • jobs with a salary that contributes to the student’s income;
  • employers who provide supervision and mentoring;
  • project activities that are directed toward members of, and support the vitality of, an official language minority community; and
  • employers who intend to hire priority students (students with disabilities, Aboriginal students and students who are members of visible minority groups).

Application Eligibility Criteria

An application must meet eligibility criteria to qualify for assessment. To be considered eligible, an application must be received on or before the deadline, and the applicant must be an eligible employer under CSJ (as specified in Eligibility).

Assessment Criteria

Each eligible CSJ application (i.e. each application that meets the eligibility criteria) will be assessed against all the following assessment criteria and will be scored appropriately. Local priorities within criterion #2 are defined for each constituency; therefore, each application within a constituency will be assessed against the same local priorities.

For applications that include multiple position titles, each position title will be scored separately and a final score will be established for the application.

The final score will be used to rank the application within all the assessed applications received for the same constituency.

Job to support the provision of services in local communities

Range 0 - 10

  • To persons with disabilities
  • To newcomers to Canada
  • To Aboriginal people
  • To members of visible minorities
  • To persons who are homeless or street-involved
  • To other groups with social or employment barriers including literacy/numeracy
  • To children/youth
  • To seniors
  • Related to environmental protection
  • Related to crime prevention
  • Related to public health and/or safety
  • Related to cultural development or historical preservation

Scoring Guide

0 points – No job activities focus on the provision of important community services as listed in this criterion
5 points – Some job activities are partially focused on one or more of the services listed in this criterion
10 points – All job activities are focused on one or more of the services listed in this criterion.

Job supports local priorities

Range 0 - 5

Reflecting the local realities, priorities will be identified within the following framework:

  • Special event (sport, cultural or other event of local, provincial/territorial, national or international scale)
  • Location (such as rural or remote areas or areas of high unemployment)
  • Sector (such as the not-for-profit sector, tourism, agriculture)

Note: Local priorities may be added to ensure responsiveness to unforeseen circumstances or events.

Scoring Guide

0 points – Not focused on a local priority
2 points – Indirectly focused on a local priority 
5 points – Directly/fully focused on a local priority

See local priorities by province.

Job provides career-related experience OR early work experience

Range 0 - 4

For jobs designed for post-secondary students:

Points will be awarded based on the degree to which the proposed job would provide career-related skills to a student. “Some link” refers to a general or non-specific connection between the job and the targeted field(s) of study as expressed by the applicant (employer). “Direct link” refers to a clear and logical connection between the job and the targeted field(s) of studies, as expressed by the applicant (employer).

Jobs identified for secondary school students are recognized as an early work experience.

Scoring Guide

0 points – No visible link between the job and the students targeted for recruitment
2 points – Some link between the job and the students targeted for recruitment
4 points – Direct link between the job and the students targeted for recruitment

OR

2 points – If the employer indicates that he/she is planning to hire a secondary school student

Salary offered contributes to the student’s income

Range 0 - 2

There is recognition for employers who will pay above the minimum wage.

Additional recognition for a not-for-profit sector employer who is also offering to cover the cost of the Mandatory Employment Related Costs (MERCs).

Scoring Guide

0 points – Minimum Wage
1 point – Minimum wage + top up
2 points – Minimum wage + top up and employer is offering to pay the MERCs (for not-for-profit employers only)

Employer provides supervision and mentoring

Range 2 - 3

An application requires information indicating that there will be supervision. This will normally be on-site, but if not, there should be an indication of other mechanisms to compensate for the fact that it is fully or partly “remote” supervision. The application should include a provision for the elements of: orientation, training, oversight of the student’s work and feedback on the employee’s performance.

A plan for mentoring the student(s) focuses on skills such as problem solving, decision-making and working with others, and can extend to technical or specific skills associated with an occupation. Mentoring is a structured plan to assist the student(s) to acquire employability skills.

Scoring Guide

2 points – Plan for supervision
3 points – Plan for supervision and mentoring

Project activities are directed toward members of and support the vitality of an Official Language Minority Community

Range 0 - 3

An OLMC is one in which the official language spoken (either French or English) is not the official majority language in the province or territory in question.

To qualify as supporting the vitality and assisting in the development of an OLMC, the job must require the use of the minority language. For example:

  • The student uses the minority language on site in day-to-day internal operations; or
  • The student is required to use the minority language for external operations or for responding to requests (customer service); or
  • The student is involved in communications activities such as preparing written material, video, audio or web-based information; or
  • The student is involved in activities promoting community development or cultural activities, museums, guided tours, festivals or theatre, as well as other activities related to tourism.

Scoring Guide

0 points – The employer has not indicated any activity in the job description that is directed towards members of an OLMC
3 points – The activities indicated in the job description are directed towards members of an OLMC.

1. Employer intends to hire priority students

Range 0 -3

“Priority students” are:

  • Students with disabilities;
  • Aboriginal students;
  • Students who are members of visible minorities.

An application requires details of how the priority students will be recruited. The plan must be consistent with reasonable recruitment methods for the group(s) in the local context.

The application should detail agencies that will be contacted who serve the targeted group(s) of students such as Aboriginal Friendship Centres, Service Canada, community youth centres, post-secondary educational institution employment services and other specialized services.

Points can also be provided where the applicant (employer) indicates that a qualified priority student has already been identified.

Scoring Guide

0 points – No indication that the organization intends to hire priority student(s)
1 point – Yes, but there is no priority student recruitment plan in place
3 points – Yes, and a priority student recruitment plan has been established or a priority student has already been identified.

Total maximum 30 points

Approval Process

All assessed applications within a constituency will be ranked according to their score, and a list of recommended projects will be established. This list will include applications that can be accommodated within the budget for the constituency.

All decisions on rejected or approved applications (according to budget availability) will be confirmed in writing.

Follow-Up

All assessed applications within a constituency will be ranked according to their score, and a list of recommended projects will be established. This list will include applications that can be accommodated within the budget for the constituency.

All decisions on rejected or approved applications (according to budget availability) will be confirmed in writing.

Employers are responsible for hiring summer students.  Employers looking to post a student job advertisement can visit jobbank.gc.ca.

Information regarding health and health and safety issues in the workplace is available in the brochure: Are you in Danger?

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