Youth in Natural Resources
Matching Youth and Natural Resource Sector Employers
ECO Canada, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, provides wage funding for employers looking to onboard young professionals for full-time work placements and job training.
This program offers eligible employers salary coverage to create jobs within the natural resources sectors to protect the environment and have a positive environmental outcome. Natural resource sectors include: the Energy Sector, Forest Sector, Mining, Minerals & Metals Sector, and Earth Sciences & Support Sector.
Program Status: Open to Employers & Participants
Funding Will Cover Up To 12 Months of Full-Time Work
About the Youth in Natural Resources Program
The Youth in Natural Resources program helps train and fund youth (aged 15-30) looking to transition into or gain experience within the natural resources field. The program helps them build a network of peers and mentors.
For employers, it gives them the opportunity to onboard young professionals and create meaningful environmental jobs within the natural resources sectors (Energy, Forestry, Mining Minerals & Metals, Earth Sciences) by removing limitations and challenges of hiring new professionals.
How Does the Youth in Natural Resources Program Work?
1. Apply Online
Fill out our eligibility assessment and application.
2. Get Approved
Candidates and employers will be informed by email once they are pre-qualified to participate in the program.
3. Recruitment
Candidates and employers are required to find their own placement, ECO Canada can offer helpful resources such as the Job Board (where hosts can post a job and candidates can submit their resume).
4. Secure Funding
Funding is secured once a match is confirmed between the employer and a pre-approved candidate and contract agreements have been signed and returned to us within 15 days of being issued.
5. Receive Funding
This program offers eligible employers 75% of the candidate’s wages covered up to $20,000 or 75% up to $30,000 when hiring an indigenous youth, a person with a disability or a person living in a rural or remote location.
Equity deserving groups include: Persons with a disability, Indigenous, Persons living in a rural or remote location including one of Canada’s territories. Both the employer and candidate must fill out reports throughout the placement for the employer to receive the wage subsidy.
We'll help cover 75% of wages up to $20k & training
Breakdown for Youth Candidates
- This program is open to participants who are aged 15-30.
- Funding is focused around the Natural Resources field.
- This program is open to candidate’s who hold Canadian citizenship, Canadian permanent residency status, or Canadian refugee status.
Breakdown for Host Employers
- Receive 75% up to $20,000 in funding towards a candidate’s salary, or 75% up to $30,000 in funding towards a candidate’s salary who is an indigenous youth, a person with a disability or a person living in a rural or remote location.
- The program is open to businesses of all sizes.
- Employers must be Canadian-owned or a Canadian subsidiary, municipal government, provincial or territorial governments department, or Indigenous organizations.
- Funding will cover full-time placements for work terms up to 12 months.
About ECO Canada
As the steward for the Canadian Environmental workforce across all industries, ECO Canada offers employment programs that stimulate environmental career pathways, skill development, business growth, workforce support and workforce advancement through wage and training funding. To date, we have distributed over $176M in wage and training subsidies and helped to fill 16,775 job placements!
