What could we build together that no organization or jurisdiction could accomplish alone?

A starter idea for the Cannexus27 Working Dialogue

Imagine if every community in Canada could connect its young people with the experiences, relationships, and support they need to discover possibilities and take their next steps. We already have many of the ingredients: schools, community organizations, employers, unions, colleges and universities, career development professionals, volunteers, and digital platforms. A shared initiative could help communities connect these strengths and make opportunities accessible to more young people.

The following is one possible "starter project" for participants in the Career Development is Nation Building Working Dialogue to consider. It is an invitation to improve the idea, or propose another idea that could make an even more substantial difference.

Community Career Discovery Partnerships

The purpose: To make meaningful career exploration a regular, supported part of growing up in every Canadian community. Each participating community would bring together young people and local partners to create a continuing sequence of opportunities to:

Discover possibilities through conversations with people in different occupations, workplace visits, demonstrations, and encounters with unfamiliar pathways.
Contribute through experience by tackling authentic community challenges, undertaking projects, volunteering, job shadowing, or participating in well-designed work experiences.
Build relationships with trusted adults, peers, mentors, and professionals beyond existing family connections.
Recognize learning through reflection and feedback that help young people understand their interests, strengths, values, and developing capabilities.
Take a next step with support to explore further, choose learning opportunities, or navigate a transition.

Success would mean that young people gain a wider sense of what is possible, stronger relationships, and greater confidence and capacity to act.

A Role for Every Community Partner

Young people: Help design opportunities, identify barriers, assess their experiences, and shape what happens next.
Schools and educators: Connect experiences with learning, prepare students, and support reflection and follow-through.
Community and youth organizations: Provide trusted settings, relationships, and opportunities that reach young people beyond school.
Employers, unions, and industry associations: Offer mentors, workplace encounters, authentic projects, and insight into changing work.
Colleges, institutes, universities, and apprenticeship partners: Open facilities, introduce learning pathways, and involve instructors, apprentices, and students.
Career development professionals: Help young people make sense of experiences, recognize possibilities, and plan next steps.
Municipalities, libraries, and economic development organizations: Convene partners, provide accessible spaces, and connect projects with community priorities.
Families and caring adults: Encourage exploration, share connections, and support young people’s emerging aspirations.
Technology providers: Help participants discover opportunities, document learning, and connect experiences with ongoing planning.
Governments, funders, and researchers: Support coordination, equitable access, learning across communities, and evaluation.
Indigenous communities and organizations would determine how participation could reflect their priorities, cultures, and governance. Francophone communities would help shape opportunities and resources that serve their linguistic and cultural realities.

National Ambition With Community Ownership

The ambition would be to make participation possible in every community in the country. The work could begin with a manageable group of willing communities across several provinces and territories, including rural, remote, urban, Indigenous, and francophone settings. Each community would build on its existing programmes and relationships. National partners could contribute resources, professional learning, employer networks, research, and shared tools. Communities would decide how best to organize delivery around local circumstances.

Organizations such as Skills/Compétences Canada, JA Canada, BGC Canada, colleges and institutes, ECO Canada, CCDF, CERIC, Xello, and myBlueprint could explore complementary contributions alongside other interested partners. A small national support function could help communities learn from one another, address common barriers, and welcome additional participants. Local coordination would need explicit responsibility and resources.

What Could Begin Within Twelve Months?

A first phase could:

Invite community partnerships to identify existing strengths, unmet needs, and a local coordinating organization.
Engage young people in design, especially those whose access to experiences and professional networks is limited.
Connect a first sequence of opportunities, with preparation, reflection, and support for next steps.
Agree on a few shared learning questions about access, relationships, expanded possibilities, and young people’s capacity to act.
Develop a stewardship plan covering coordination, financing, accountability, and continuing improvement.

The first communities would help establish a practical approach that others could adapt. Expansion would follow demonstrated value and available capacity.

Build Continuity From the Beginning

This initiative would need a continuing home for the work: people responsible for maintaining partnerships, supporting quality, securing resources, and carrying learning forward. The proposed study of enduring Canadian stewardship models could help identify suitable arrangements. Existing institutions and networks may already offer much of the foundation.

An Invitation to Think Bigger

This starter idea is offered to make our discussion concrete. Participants may see ways to strengthen it, connect it with existing efforts, or propose something more transformative. As you prepare for the Working Dialogue, please consider: