Canadians leaders call on Ottawa to support national youth service programme with military training

The proposal recommends that the government allocates $18.75 million over 24 months to support the programme. Photo by LUKE HENDRY/POSTMEDIA

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A group of prominent Canadians is urging the federal government to support plans for a voluntary National Youth Service programme that would include basic military training.

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Engage Canada submitted a proposal to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in May, seeking support to develop the programme. Under the proposal, young people aged 18-25 would complete the military training before serving in areas such as emergency preparedness, climate resilience and community service.

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The proposal has attracted support from business, military, Indigenous, academic and community leaders, including former Quebec premier Jean Charest, former British Columbia premier Christy Clark, Paralympian Rick Hansen and Chief Wilton Littlechild.

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Michael Burns, chair of Engage Canada, said the initiative is designed to address two challenges facing the country: helping young people transition into the workforce while strengthening Canada’s ability to respond to national needs.

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“I think Canada is facing two significant challenges at the same time,” he said in an interview with National Post. “First, young people are entering adulthood without a clear pathway for employment. A lot of them are lacking skills, a sense of purpose, resiliency, and a sense of belonging.

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“The second is that the country has some urgent national needs, including emergency preparedness, climate resiliency, community service, support for seniors, defence, and security issues. A modern national service program for youth could help address both those things. It would give young Canadians a meaningful paid opportunity to serve and build their future, while also strengthening Canada’s capacity to respond to national challenges that we face today.”

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Engage Canada is asking the federal government to allocate $18.75 million over two years in Budget 2026 to support the programme, which would include a competitive application process and compensation for participants’ work — though Burns says the question of what would be a fair wage is yet to be determined.

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The organization argues that the proposal comes at a time when Canada is “debating sovereignty, defence readiness, labour shortages, emergency preparedness, and how to better prepare the next generation for civic leadership.”

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Its supporters say that Canada must invest in human infrastructure as well as physical infrastructure in order to build a stronger country.

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And public opinion polling suggests some elements of the proposal would receive broad support. Last year, a survey from the Angus Reid Institute found that Canadians were overwhelmingly in favour of mandatory national service across a number of fields, which the poll defined as one year of time donated for those younger than 30 years of age.

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For example, 74 per cent favoured a year of public health support service, 73 per cent were in favour of environmental support service, 72 per cent for youth service support, and civil protection had 70 per cent in favour.