Photo: (Rachel Sanders/CBC)
"These young Canadians are banging down the government's door asking for climate jobs." "The group is calling on the federal government to spend $1 billion to create a "Youth Climate Corps," a program that would offer two-year paid placements for Canadians under the age of 35 to train and work at climate-related jobs."
"One group that supports the campaign is Youth Climate Corps BC, which has been doing exactly this kind of work since 2020. Run by an environmental non-profit, the program pays young people a living wage to work at climate-related summer jobs.
The program has hired youth in smaller B.C. cities such as Nelson and Cranbrook and is working toward hiring a cohort in Vancouver for the first time this summer.
Sam Kutyauripo, the program's Vancouver coordinator, said many young people are experiencing high levels of climate anxiety — something she believes the climate corps program helps manage.
"I think the good thing about this program is giving young people tangible ways to make meaningful changes in communities," she said. "In turn, that is actually going to make them feel much better."
Kutyauripo said the small B.C.-based program is "proof of concept" that a larger national campaign would work.
Qualtrough and Marci Ien, the federal minister for women, gender equality and youth, declined a CBC interview request about the Youth Climate Corps campaign."