the youth employment and skills program (yesp) delivered by agriculture and agri-food canada is now accepting applications for the 2022-2023 program year.  applications will be accepted between february 28, 2022 and march 21, 2022.

the youth employment and skills program will contribute approximately $3.7 million in wage subsidies to employers who hire youth (between the age of 15 and 30 inclusive) for agricultural jobs.  projects may start as early as april 1, 2022 and end no later than march 31, 2023.

new this year, the program will focus on youth facing employment barriers. the list of barriers is as follows:

• indigenous
• living with a physical disability
• living with a diagnosed mental health disability
• visible minorities
• recent immigrant
• residing in a remote location
• living in a low income household
• single parent
• early school leaver

the forest sector investment and innovation program (fsiip) provides funding for strategic investments in the forest sector that:

• improve productivity and innovation
• enhance competitiveness
• support new market access
• provide benefits to ontario’s broader forest sector
• strengthen regional economies

this funding opportunity is designed to support a national network organized to:

• identify instances where canadian model organism expertise is relevant to a newly discovered disease gene. when such instances are found, a research project would be initiated to explore the functional characterization of the gene.
• build on the established partnerships with programs developed in other regions/countries (modelled on the canadian rare diseases: models & mechanisms network) to:
  • support international partnerships when no compatible model can be identified in canada; and
  • allow genes identified by clinicians in other countries to be studied by canadian biomedical scientists.
• enable the broadening of the modelling scope by supporting the entire scope of model systems available, including: new yeast models, animal models, patient derived tissue and organoid models.
• catalyze new research efforts that target undeserved body systems, tissues, or diseases.

specific objectives

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• establish a multi-stakeholder pediatric cancer consortium which covers the cancer control continuum from prevention to diagnosis, treatment to survivorship that encompasses the breadth of stakeholders and knowledge-users with a transparent, inclusive multi-jurisdictional recruitment and membership process, meaningful engagement with partners and innovative international research collaborations.
• advance pediatric cancer research through platforms and projects in high priority areas.
• improve the research pipeline for the development and further access to drugs for children affected by cancer and their families, by working in the context of regulatory frameworks (health canada) for drug approval processes and, with engagement of people with lived/living experience (pwle), influencing system improvements through research and knowledge mobilization. 
• advance equitable access to new and promising therapies regardless of geography, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
• build capacity for the next generation of pediatric cancer researchers through training and mentorship opportunities embedded and interconnected across the consortium and capacity for people with lived and living experience to engage meaningfully in the research ecosystem.
• maximize research impact and knowledge mobilization within and beyond the consortium to help ensure evidence is integrated in and used to inform health policy, decision making and planning.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are:

• to enhance evidence regarding the adaptation and successful implementation of evidence-based interventions in preventing or reducing exposure to one or more common non-communicable diseases (ncd) risk factors;
• to increase understanding of key barriers and facilitators (including contextual factors such as poverty, racism, ethnic discrimination, sex/gender differences) to intervention access, uptake, and effectiveness across demographic groups and life stages;
• to improve capacity for implementation research on ncd prevention;
• to foster the incorporation of interventions into local, regional or national health policy, including their scale-up and sustainability, with a focus on equitable outcomes; and
• to support implementation research teams that actively engage partners (i.e., decision makers, indigenous peoples, community groups, and service delivery partners) as an integral part of the entire research process.