March 2025 – Canada
On February 14, 2025, the Government of Canada launched its annual pre-budget consultations, inviting Canadians to weigh in on urgent national priorities. Key themes included affordability, economic resilience, and navigating the evolving Canada–U.S. landscape. Consultations closed on March 10, 2025.
As part of this process, CCCBET submitted a formal brief highlighting critical areas for investment in employment and career development. Our submission emphasized the importance of community-based services and long-term strategies for a stronger, more inclusive workforce.
Key Recommendations:
- Reinstate Labour Market Transfer Funds
Restore the $625 million in federal funding to provinces for labour market agreements—supporting career development and employability training, and recognizing the crucial role of community-based services in driving Canada's economic growth. - Sustain Community-Based Employability Networks
Increase investment in underfunded employability networks that play a vital role in helping individuals enter and stay in the workforce—essential contributors to economic progress. - Develop a Federal Employment Strategy Framework
Create a dedicated framework to guide employment and training strategies that are responsive to current and future labour market needs—beyond shifting political priorities. - Simplify Access to Public Employment Services
Broaden eligibility criteria so that anyone in need—regardless of income or employment status—can access support for integration and sustained employment.
By participating in the 2025 pre-budget consultations, CCCBET aimed to ensure that the voices of employment-focused organizations and the communities they serve were heard.
Employment Services are at a Cross-point: Do Employment Program Services Need to Change?
Panelists: Valérie Roy (Quebec), Janet Morris-Reade (British Columbia), Akosua Alagaratnam (Ontario), Carrie Axten (Alberta), and Monika G. Feist (Manitoba)
At Cannexus 2024, CCCBET facilitated a dynamic and timely session addressing the ongoing transformation of employment services in Canada. With rapid changes in the labour market, evolving employer expectations, increased technological integration, and a growing population of clients facing complex barriers, the session underscored the urgent need for innovative, collaborative, and community-specific responses.
Key Themes Explored:
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Pan-Canadian Landscape of Employment Services:
Attendees gained a broad overview of employment trends and service delivery challenges across various regions, highlighting both shared issues and distinct local realities. -
Innovation Rooted in Regional Contexts:
The discussion emphasized that while national coordination is crucial, solutions must be flexible enough to reflect regional labour market demands and demographic nuances. Success stories and pilot programs from different provinces were spotlighted to inspire cross-regional learning. -
The Role of Collaboration:
A central takeaway was the call for deeper partnerships between government, employment sectors, and community-based organizations. Collaboration is essential to build agile systems that respond to today's realities—particularly in supporting multi-barriered clients. -
Participant Engagement for Advocacy:
Delegates were invited to share their insights and local perspectives to help shape CCCBET's forthcoming advocacy paper. The goal is to ensure that front-line voices and on-the-ground realities inform future policy and funding discussions.
Cannexus is presented by CERIC and supported by The Counselling Foundation of Canada with a broad network of supporting organizations. For more information and to register, visit www.cannexus.ca.
JULY 2019 – CANADA
The International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy (ICCDPP) and Skills Norway held the 9th International Symposium on career development and public policy in June 2019. The theme was 'Leading career development services into an uncertain future: Ensuring access, integration and innovation'.
The Symposium brought together policy makers, career development professional, researchers and employer and workplace representatives to discuss the way forwards for global career development. It focused on exploring how the world in which individuals are pursuing their careers is changing and how people across the world can get support to develop their careers. It also looked at how governments organise career development support and connect them to wider policy aims and to other support services. Finally, it explored the future of career development and examined ways the field could be more innovative.
All attending countries were asked to produce a country paper setting out the key issues for their countries in relation to the key themes of the conference. Team Canada wrote a country paper highlighting our country's specific features and innovative practices in the field of career development.
During the Symposium representatives from 33 countries and from UNESCO, the OECD, European Commission, European Training Foundation and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, dialogued and identified a range of effective policies and practices. These discussions are summarised in the ICCDPP 2019 Communiqué.
For more information, please visit the ICCDPP Symposium Website.
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