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Feds announce program to add short-term employment in STEM fields for young Canadians

Ottawa will create 500 short-term employment opportunities for recent graduates and youth in the natural resources field, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this morning.
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Ottawa will create 500 short-term employment opportunities for recent graduates and youth in the natural resources field, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this morning.

A program will be launched to create 500 positions – jobs or internship opportunities, Trudeau said – to help young Canadians experiencing difficulty in finding employment to explore possibilities in fields involving STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The positions, which will range in length from 6 months to a year, will be placed in five sectors: Energy, forestry, mining, earth sciences and clean technology. The exact roll-out plan has not been announced.

On Friday, Trudeau also reminded Canadians that the new contact-tracing app announced earlier this week will be available to people across the country in the coming weeks. Trudeau did note that Ontario will get the first roll-out, but added that the plan is to quickly have the app available to all Canadians soon after that.

He also reiterated that - while most provinces and jurisdictions have loosened the COVID-19 lockdown in the last month - people gathering to celebrate Father's Day this weekend should continue to be mindful in keeping social distance and abiding by local health regulations to avoid facilitating a resurgence in the outbreak.

Earlier this week, 10 states in the U.S. reported record number of new COVID cases since the pandemic started in March, including west coast states such as California and Oregon. In Florida alone, there were 3,207 new cases on Thursday.