Exciting YCCBC Media Coverage!

We’re excited to share that Youth Climate Corps BC’s 2025 season is making headlines! 🌿

This summer, our work has been featured in outlets like CBC, The Mike Smyth Show, and The Vancouver Sun, and this week, two new stories were dropped in Canada’s National Observer and Radio-Canada (in French). Check out this coverage at the links above and read an English translation of the Radio Canada Companion article below!

Radio Canada article translation: A youth army to fight climate change?

In British Columbia, an organization is trying to tackle high youth unemployment by offering them opportunities to try environmental careers. Is it time to create a Canadian force dedicated to fighting climate change?

At the end of a gravel road leading to the Squamish Estuary, a group parks near a creek. Led by Silvie Cafarella of the Squamish River Watershed Society, the small team heads toward a recently constructed culvert.

The organization, whose mission is to protect the waters of the estuary, is now monitoring the effect of its latest project on the number of chum smolts in the area.

While doing their work, Silvie and her colleague Becca explain to the group how they work. The goal is to delegate this task to the young people of Youth Climate Corps BC.

"Monitoring and maintenance are the forgotten areas when it comes to environmental funding", says Silvie. "There's a lot of money for projects, but then, do we know if they're achieving the goals? That's where the Youth Climate Corps comes in. It helps us monitor things because there's no money for that, but it's really important."

Her group of interns, four young people under 30, were hired for the summer by Youth Climate Corps BC (YCCBC). Participants are paid between $20 and $25 an hour, enough to support themselves.

From May to October, they participate in various initiatives with organizations in the community of 30,000 inhabitants, located an hour's drive from Vancouver.

Among them is 29-year-old law graduate Devarsh Tripathi, who found the gig through GoodJobs, an environmental jobs platform. "I want to work with my hands, I want to do manual labour, and I don't want to work in front of a computer", he says. "What we're doing here makes more sense than trying to beat the stock market."

For Owen Cornell, 25, it was an opportunity to leave his job as a wildland firefighter, where he had a front-row seat to the impact of climate change. "I wanted to do something that felt like I was tackling this issue rather than responding to it."

A program born from the pandemic

Youth Climate Corps BC was founded five years ago in the Kootenays region to create employment opportunities in the fight against climate change.

"[The founders] were two friends in the Kootenays. They realized that [the pandemic] was a difficult time for young people in terms of employment, but it was also an important time for communities struggling with the effects of climate change", says Natalie Gerum, program director at the YCCBC.

"With climate anxiety, it's also a way to give hope with work", she adds.

Five years after its creation, the YCCBC has branches in seven locations and employs around fifty young people. In 2024, the group received $3 million in funding from the provincial government for a three-year pilot project.

In Squamish, the group is increasing its involvement with local partners, regularly working on the local farm and organizing awareness-raising workshops. The youth are also learning how to conduct leak tests on homes to improve their energy efficiency, an area of ​​growing need in a community where access to employment remains a challenge.

There aren't many options, explains Nicole Kilistoff, who leads the small team.

A billion for a large-scale program

"We have a much greater imagination for this program," says Seth Klein after analyzing the initiative implemented in British Columbia.

The author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency advocates for a large-scale Youth Climate Corps, funded to the tune of $1 billion per year.

The program he is campaigning for is inspired by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was born in the United States during the Great Depression to provide work for unemployed youth.

For two years, the young people hired would learn trades for which there is a shortage and work in the environmental sector.

Klein believes the climate crisis, coupled with the country's high youth unemployment rate, which stood at 14.5 percent in August according to Statistics Canada, more than double the rate for the general population, justifies massive investments.

Support from the NDP and the Liberals

Seth Klein has allies in Ottawa in his quest. In 2023, the New Democratic Party (NDP) tabled a motion to create a Youth Climate Corps.

Within the Liberal Party, Patrick Weiler, MP for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, is promoting the concept within the caucus. We know we have a major challenge with youth employment and climate change. So there's already a demand. It's always a challenge when you have a budget situation with many priorities, but this priority deserves it.

During the last federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada committed to funding a pilot project to the tune of $28 million per year for two years.

It's a start, but not much, says Seth Klein: At this level, it would be possible to hire about 500 people a year. That's not a lot for all of Canada.

With $1 billion, it would be possible to hire about 20,000 people a year, he says, enough to have a significant impact.

Defence and environment: same fight?

Despite the austerity measures announced by the Carney government, Seth Klein believes such a level of investment is justified.

The program he promotes is said to be similar to military service, a model that allows young people to serve their country while fighting for a cause that is dear to them.

"We're going to see a $9 billion increase this year in military spending," he said. " In our view, the climate crisis is an even worse threat."