ECO Canada

ECO Canada (Environmental Careers Organization of Canada) was established in 1992 as part of Canada's sector council initiative. Sector councils are organizations that address human resource challenges facing the Canadian economy ¹. With the support of private sector investors and the Government of Canada’s Department of Human Resources and Social Development, ECO Canada works to engage businesses, workers, educators, professional associations and government to focus on determining the specific skills and human resource needs of Canada’s environment industry.

ECO Canada is one of about 30 sector councils [http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/hip/hrp/corporate/sector/listsectorcouncils.shtml] whose key objectives are to:
* Implement national occupational standards for skills and training
* Promote employment opportunities via a highly skilled workforce
* Meet industry requirements for qualified new practitioners
* Provide labour market projections and information on environmental sector trends for governments, educators, youth, and industry planners
* Improve the dialogue between industry and the academic community
* Address labour market entry problems and school-to-work transition difficulties encountered by youth

Specifically, ECO Canada develops programs that help individuals find environmental jobs, provides employers with resources to find and keep environmental practitioners, and informs educators and governments of employment trends to ensure the growth of Canada’s environment industry.

The organization offers resources to meet the professional needs of this industry, including an online environmental job board, certification for environmental practitioners, a wage-subsidy internship program, environment industry specific labour market reports, and the Environmental Employer of the Year Awards.

ECO Canada is a contributor to Canada’s sector council program. Although as diverse as the various industries themselves, all sector councils touch upon technological advancements, human resource planning, training opportunities and industry forecasting in order to enable businesses to better prepare for current and future developments ².

In 2006, ECO Canada and Royal Roads University joined forces to create the Canadian Centre for Environmental Education (CCEE)³. The CCEE offers an environmental certificate program that takes the best online environmental university and college courses and combine them into one certificate. There are currently more than 30 universities and colleges participating by offering their courses. Some of these include: Cape Breton University, University of Toronto, Red River College, Sault College, University of Victoria, Ryerson University, Royal Military College, BCIT, and SIAST.

References

¹ The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC), 2006, Building Canada’s Knowledge Advantage, http://www.councils.org/tasc/members/documents/docs3/English%20directory%20proof.pdf. Accessed November 2007.

² The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC), About Sector Councils, http://www.councils.org/tasc/nav.cfm?s=approach&p=response&l=e. Accessed November 2007.

³ The Canadian Centre for Environmental Education. http://www.ccee.ca

External links

* [http://www.eco.ca ECO Canada]
* [http://www.ccee.ca Canadian Centre for Environmental Education]