While there are numerous federal and provincial youth training and employment programs, none are what we envision for the YCC. Some, like Katimavik, are small and only take a handful of people each year. Others are unpaid volunteer programs, like Canada Service Corps. And the largest, the Canada Summer Student Jobs program, offers wage top-ups to non-profits and for-profit businesses for short-term job placements (many of which would have existed regardless). And none of these programs have an explicit climate and just transition focus. Overall, what currently exists is mostly short-term and small (many programs are over-subscribed).

There is currently only one national program that offers genuinely barrier-free access to paid job training for young people, with a special focus on vulnerable populations –– the military. The YCC would be a compelling alternative offer.

In British Columbia, both the non-profit Wildsight and YCC-BC currently run Youth Climate Corps programs in about half a dozen communities. These programs offer a “proof of concept” for what an audacious national YCC could look like. But for now, they are very small and short-term programs, and generally get more applications that they have spaces. The national YCC campaign is working with both these organizations to win province-wide and/or national YCC programs.

There is an overlap between the YCC training we envision and current skilled trades apprenticeship training programs. Consequently, the YCC should be aligned with Red Seal apprenticeship systems across Canada.

We are currently calling on the federal government to spend $1 billion a year on the YCC, with the hope that this would be matched by provincial governments. However, we ultimately hope that the program would be demand-driven; we are proposing a YCC for which “no one would be turned away.” If this were indeed the model, the budget would need to rise to accommodate demand. Which of course is what it means to treat the climate crisis as the emergency it is. In WWII, the government did not turn people away who signed up to serve - that is not what one does in a genuine emergency.

According to the Abacus poll we conducted, as many as 1.3 million people in Canada between the ages of 18 and 35 say they would “definitely” consider enrolling in a YCC for two years. If that many people were indeed keen to enrol, the budget would need to grow substantially.

Contrary to private subsidies that encourage employers to offer green job placements, the Climate Corps expands the public sector. Here are some ideas of where that money could come from:

• Windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies

• Redirecting fossil fuel subsidies.

• Make polluters pay (meaning, Sue Bg Oil!).

• Establish a Federal Just Transition Transfer.

Notably, the Canadian Armed Forces has consistently repeated that it is not interested in being the first resort for domestic emergency responses. If that is the case, then the CAF should not be funded for work it won’t do: let’s redirect those funds into the creation of a Youth Climate Corps.

As is the case in the United States, a YCC should be a “whole-of-government” endeavour, uniting several agencies, departments, and ministries to get the job done. Federally, a Youth Climate Corps would fall under the mandates of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Minister of Labour, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, the Minister for Emergency Preparedness, and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages. But one or two of these departments should probably take the lead and serve as the institutional “home” for the program. The government should strongly consider establishing a new crown corporation or agency to administer the YCC, drawing upon and coordinating personnel and expertise from the departments noted above, and to serve as the employer of the young people who enrol in the program.

No. We see the opportunity for a genuine regional approach to rolling out the program, giving direct leadership to Indigenous nations, municipalities, and provincial governments in aligning on which solutions to prioritize. We hope to see the YCC program embedded in legislation that would establish an advisory council with representation from youth, industry, labour, systematically marginalized populations, post-secondary institutions, climate experts, and all levels of government (including municipal and Indigenous) to advise on YCC program design and implementation and the allocation of the funds. The advisory council would ensure youth are deployed on projects that align with local climate priorities and labour market needs. In those provinces, territories and communities where multi-sector climate advisory bodies already exist, such councils could be tapped to administer regional/local YCC programs, to better ensure that work placements align with local climate plans and maximize greenhouse gas emission reductions.

In some cases, the YCC should partner with local post-secondary institutes, who would provide in-class training for some of the program (perhaps one-quarter or one-third of a YCC participant’s time would be in classroom training).

We certainly think a well-designed YCC would advance reconciliation and decolonization efforts. A significant share of the budget should be allocated directly to Indigenous nations, and used to create placements for Indigenous youth doing work that aligns with local climate goals. Indeed, we hope to see YCC legislation that specifies that a portion of the funds should first be allocated to First Nations, Inuit, and Metis youth, organizations, and communities. Another portion should be allocated to other systematically marginalized youth such as Black, Brown, People of Colour, recent immigrants, lower income, youth with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+.

In communities where there is little federal presence, YCC funds will need to go to municipal or Indigenous governments, and aligned with local climate action priorities.

A YCC that functions as merely a green jobs subsidy would fall short of its intended goals. The YCC isn’t only about creating more green jobs, but about calling young Canadians into a collective effort to fight against climate change; a mobilization. Like many green job subsidies, a private subsidy would make the YCC difficult to identify publicly. Instead, recruitment under a united banner would create a real groundswell. As young people keep saying, no current programs communicate emergency mode and therefore no current programs have a chance of creating a cultural eagerness to enrol.

Thankfully, we are starting to see major investments in climate infrastructure. But as these programs ramp-up, they will face a skills shortage. The YCC can be just the solution – training young people to fill those positions.

A YCC should certainly align with the federal government’s sustainable jobs plan. But we are envisioning a much larger program than anything currently included in the SJP.

Like anything government does, there are opportunities for success and failures. The benefit of having an American Climate Corps in the United States (and many state-level programs) is that we can learn from those mistakes and successes. Our prediction is that the ACC will exceed expectations and overshadow any Canadian attempt at fighting climate change – so long as a YCC doesn’t exist.

In the end, the same movement that is currently pushing for the establishment of an audacious YCC will need to stay engaged – and keep holding the government to account to ensure the program is designed well and guided by clear and inclusive principles.