What We Do - Our Workforce, Youth and Senior Projects

Employment Equity, Youth Support and Senior Advocacy

The DiversityCanada Foundation is a national non-profit, non-charitable, non-partisan organization. We work to provide Canadians of all backgrounds and identities with resources and opportunities to help them participate in the economic, social, and cultural life of Canada and the world.

Our activities are supported by donations, sponsorships, corporate user fees, public project-based funding, and the generous services of our cherished volunteers. We provide free services to job candidates, youth, seniors, and other participants in our programs.

Workforce Projects

We work through several channels delivering career information to help job seekers become job-ready, and acting as a bridge to link job seekers with employers who have career opportunities.

We provide online and offline resources to support the career development of youth, newcomers to Canada, Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities, women seeking non-traditional roles, and people with disabilities. By combining tried and true methods of connecting with employers, as well as best practices using new technologies, we aim to help job seekers onto the fast track to career success.

Online:

In partnership with Maplejobs Inc., the DiversityCanada Foundation operates DiversityCanada.com and previously also provided the website NorthONJobs.com.

Through DiversityCanada.com, we seek to develop the labour force belonging to the equity groups across Canada and to connect jobseekers in the equity groups with employers who have career opportunities across Canada.

From 2004 to 2015, NorthONJobs.com worked to develop the Northern Ontario labour force and to connect jobseekers with employers who provided career opportunities in Northern Ontario. One of our aims was to encourage new Canadians to explore opportunities outside the traditional urban centers to which many migrate, and to promote greater diversity in rural Canada. Additionally, we provide an online Career Center with multi-media resources to help job seekers prepare for the job market.

In Print:

In partnership with Maplejobs Inc., the DiversityCanada Foundation has developed a career handbook and "print career fair" which aims: i) to enable job seekers to develop skills to make a successful transition to the labor market and ii) to provide them with assistance in seeking employers likely to have career opportunities.

Through DiversityCanada.com's Employers Want YOU career handbook, the DiversityCanada Foundation aims to develop the labour force among the equity groups across Canada and to connect jobseekers in equity groups with employers across Canada who are looking to diversify their workforce.

Through NorthONJobs.com's Employers Want YOU career handbook, the DiversityCanada Foundation worked to develop the Northern Ontario labour force and to connect jobseekers from across Canada with employers who offered career opportunities in Northern Ontario.

Youth Projects

The perennial problem for graduates is that they encounter job offerings requiring experience. However, they are in need of a job in order to get experience. DiversityCanada has for many years been serving to bridge that gap.

In partnership with the Canadian Federal Government, the DiversityCanada Foundation has offered post-secondary graduates the opportunity to launch their careers in Canada and around the world.

We also believe it's not only important to provide opportunities for young people to launch their careers, but to make the efforts to get their perspective on matters of concern to them.

Career Enhancer Foreign Internship Project (CEFIP)

Supporting Career Growth:

In partnership with the Canadian Federal Government (through Service Canada), the DiversityCanada Foundation in 2006 offered post-secondary graduates the opportunity to launch their careers. Under the Career Enhancer Internship Project, the DiversityCanada Foundation made eight positions available in Ontario. These paid internships provided youth with the opportunity to gain experience, to enhance their skills, and to make a successful transition to the world of work.

In partnership with the Canadian Federal Government (through the Department of International Trade), in 2006/2007 the DiversityCanada Foundation offered post-secondary graduates the opportunity to launch their careers internationally. Under the Career Enhancer Foreign Internship Project (CEFIP), the DiversityCanada Foundation made 10 positions available.

These placements were for six months with some of the leading companies, financial institutions and non-profit organizations in Europe, Central America, South America and the Caribbean, as well as in the United States. These paid internships with organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the Junior Chamber International, provided youth with the opportunity to gain experience, to enhance their skills, and to make a successful transition to the world of work.

Foreign Internship

Listening To Youth:

Recognizing that steady youth out-migration poses a threat to the future of Northern Ontario, the DiversityCanada Foundation launched a writing competition to find possible solutions by listening to those who best understand the problem. Targeted at Northern Ontario youth and entitled the NorthONJobs.com Essay Contest, the initiative sought to encourage youth to consider the region as a place to live and work. It also sought to give youth an opportunity to voice their opinions about the region so that government bodies and employers would understand how to retain youth in Northern Ontario. This project received enthusiastic support of the Northern Ontario business community and included participation by the Ontario Government.

Essay Contest

Seniors Projects

The DiversityCanada Foundation recognises the value of the contribution seniors have made to society and the wealth of skills and knowledge seniors have to offer, even in retirement. We believe there is great benefit to be derived by seniors and all of society when seniors are given the opportunity to remain fully integrated and active in their communities.

Golden Voices:

Through our GoldenVoices.com project, we give seniors the opportunity to share their views and opinions so society can better understand their concerns and perspectives. In this series of interviews conducted by seniors themselves with their peers, seniors also tell of their personal trials and triumphs spanning several decades, right up to the present. Through their sometimes poignant and often humourous stories, seniors offer a source of inspiration to their peers and to younger generations facing life's everyday challenges.

Golden Guides Project:

The Golden Guides Project helped seniors become more familiar with computers and mobile devices, and to become more Internet-savvy. This became even more important as the Covid-19 pandemic shifted many aspects of life online.

Golden Years Project:

Through the Golden Years Project, seniors gathered online and in-person to discuss matters of importance to them. These discussions were based on pre-recorded "fireside chat" interviews with subject experts on topics such as fraud prevention, fire safety, and fitness for seniors.

Covid-19 Emergency Support for Seniors Project:

The Covid-19 pandemic has been especially hard on seniors, financially and emotionally. The DiversityCanada Foundation set out to address the issue of food security among seniors and distributed grocery store gift cards to seniors in and around Elliot Lake. We also re-launching the online platform, GoldenVoices.com, to allow seniors to remain informed and connected with their community.

Elliot Lake Seniors Memories Project:

The Elliot Lake Seniors Memories Project allowed many seniors of diverse backgrounds to record and preserve their personal experiences and family history for future generations in video interviews and in written format.

Seniors' Perspectives:

What's it like to retire? What are the biggest concerns that become obvious only in later stages of life? We asked retirees and near-retirees in their 50's to their 90's these questions and more. Their answers provided rich food for thought for anyone at any age, but especially for those entering or into their golden years.

Senior Volunteerism:

Through our Elliot Lake Seniors Skills Database project, we leveraged the power and reach of the Internet to allow service organizations in Canada's preeminent seniors' community to showcase their work and volunteer opportunities in order to help them better connect with seniors who desire to contribute their time and experience to worthy endeavours.

Senior Volunteerism