April 17, 2024

The federal budget tabled yesterday makes progress towards tackling youth mental health, employment, and poverty. As Canada’s largest dedicated child and youth serving charity, BGC Canada applauds these investments and looks forward to working with government to implement them.

BGC Canada is increasingly concerned by rising inequalities among youth. Our Clubs report increased demand for food supports, amid a cost-of-living crisis. We see increased mental health struggles from the youth we work with, amidst ongoing concerns about the impact of social media use on youth mental health. Latest data from Statistics Canada suggests that the youth employment rate has been dropping steadily, meaning that youth are not getting the first jobs they need to launch their careers.

“For this budget, we called for significant investments in children and youth,” says Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada. “Young people and their families continue to struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, and this budget will help them get by while also creating national programs that will benefit generations to come. We are excited to partner with all levels of government to expand the Canada Wide Early Learning and Childcare system, implement a national school food program, and support youth mental health and employment.”

Highlights from Budget 2024 include:

• Renewed funding for youth employment and skills development, including through Canada Summer Jobs, the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, the Student Support for Learning Program, and CanCode 
• $500M for a new youth mental health fund 
• $52M in new funding to keep youth safe online
• $1B in funding for a national school food program 
• $15M for support community sport programming
• Significant funding for new childcare spaces, and for a workforce program for the sector

About BGC Canada 

For 125 years, BGC Canada has been creating opportunities for millions of Canadian kids and teens. As Canada’s largest child and youth serving charitable organization, our Clubs open their doors to young people and their families at more than 600 locations nationwide. During out-of-school hours in small and large cities, and rural and Indigenous communities, our trained staff and volunteers provide programs and services that help young people realize positive outcomes in self-expression, academics, healthy living, physical activity, job readiness, mental health, leadership, and more.  

[April 11, 2019] Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada welcomes the Ontario government’s focus on child and youth care in the release of their 2019 budget.

Boys and Girls Clubs are a leading provider of high-quality and affordable Authorized Recreation programs, licensed childcare, and before- and after-school programs that help young people across Ontario and Canada discover and achieve their potential.

Young people participating in our programs, including ones currently funded by the Ontario After-School Program (OASP) are more physically active, have increased access to healthy food, learn new healthy living behaviours, have better outcomes at school, are more engaged in their communities, avoid risky behaviour, and are encouraged and supported to make positive life choices.

“We welcome the Ontario government’s planned investment to create 30,000 new child-care spaces, and the new Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit that will allow families that access our licensed childcare, authorized recreation programs, and summer camps to claim those expenses as a credit. We will continue to work with families, partners, and the Ontario government to ensure these high-quality programs, including our OASP-funded programs that support over 4,500 children from priority neighborhoods, provide at-risk children and youth the opportunities they need to realize positive outcomes in academics, healthy living, physical activity, mental health, leadership, and more.”
—Owen Charters, President & CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

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Media contact:

Jared Morrow
Media Relations Manager
jmorrow@bgccan.com
905-477-7272 x202