Role of Project Learning Tree Canada in the funding ecosystem
Project Learning Tree Canada (PLT Canada) is a national non-profit charitable organization and an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. It focuses on advancing environmental education, forest literacy, and green career pathways for children, youth, and young adults across Canada. In addition to producing award‑winning curriculum resources and professional development for educators, PLT Canada plays a direct funding role by helping employers create paid Green Jobs for youth in the forest, conservation, parks, and broader natural resources sectors.
Through its Green Jobs program, PLT Canada offers financial support to employers in the form of wage subsidies. Employers that hire youth aged 15–30 into eligible Green Jobs can receive a 50% wage match, up to $6,000 CAD in reimbursements per placement. This program has supported hundreds of employers and thousands of paid work experiences since 2018, with a strong focus on inclusivity and support for youth facing barriers to employment, including Indigenous youth, rural youth, youth with disabilities, newcomers, and 2SLGBTQIA+ young people.
General funding approach and target audiences
PLT Canada’s primary funding recipients are employers in the forest, conservation and parks sectors, including non-profits, Indigenous communities and businesses, and other organizations offering nature‑based positions. Funding is tied to the creation of new jobs that contribute to nature‑based solutions, such as climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management, water and soil conservation, and environmental education. Employers must register as Green Jobs employers, post positions, and follow an application and reporting process, which includes submitting proof of wages to receive reimbursement.
On the youth side, PLT Canada supports job seekers through a national job‑matching platform, career fact sheets, online courses, and webinars that build employability skills. Its structured mentorship program, Green Mentor, connects young adults with professionals in green sectors, sometimes through custom cohorts developed with partner organizations. While mentorship is not direct financial aid, it complements the wage subsidy model by helping youth access and succeed in funded employment opportunities.
Educational programming and complementary supports
Beyond direct employment funding, PLT Canada invests heavily in environmental and forest literacy. It develops curriculum‑aligned guides for early childhood, K–8 and high school, as well as digital resources like Forest Quest and a Forest Literacy Framework. These materials help educators integrate climate change, sustainable forest management, and green careers into teaching, indirectly strengthening the pipeline of future applicants and hosts for Green Jobs placements.
Annual reports published on the organization’s website document the scale and impact of its funding and programming each year, including the number of Green Jobs created, the diversity of participants, and the reach of mentorship and education initiatives. PLT Canada is supported in part by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy and other public programs, positioning it as a key intermediary that channels federal youth employment investments into concrete jobs and learning opportunities across the country.
