FCM's Jack Layton Fellowship Program honours and celebrates Jack Layton's legacy by engaging young Canadians in politics.
Each year the program provides an opportunity for community-minded leaders to turn their good ideas into real action and real change.
The issues local governments address each day are important to all Canadians, yet young Canadians are becoming more disengaged with politics at all levels of government.
Reaching out to these young people and finding ways to engage them in contributing to the cities and communities we all want is critical.
About Jack and FCM
Jack Layton was a long-time City Councillor in Toronto, before he became leader of the federal New Democratic Party in 2003. He was an active leader in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), serving as President in 2001. This fellowship has been created to honor Mr. Layton’s contributions to Canada’s cities and communities.
FCM is the national voice for Canadian municipalities and is dedicated to improving the quality of life in all communities by promoting strong, effective and accountable local governments.
The Fellowship
During his two decades dedicated to public service, Mr. Layton believed that ideas, no matter how small or odd-sounding, are something to be explored, nurtured and developed, and that grass roots, community-based initiatives, with proper support, can result in real change. This fellowship program is built on and is a reflection of these beliefs.
The FCM Jack Layton Fellowship Program will provide an opportunity for up to 7 community-minded leaders to turn their good ideas into real action and real change. Specifically, the Fellowship will seed, support and develop good ideas that engage Canadians in public policy and civic participation at a local level.
How it works
FCM will be hiring up to 7 university students at the graduate or undergraduate level to work during the spring and summer. The Jack Layton Fellows will spend 80 per cent of their time occupying separate positions within FCM, serving Canada’s municipalities. An outline of these positions is found below.
The remaining 20 per cent of their time will be dedicated to developing the Jack Layton Fellowship project. Building on the work done last year, Fellows will identify a project for this year as a team, focusing on a priority area for which Mr. Layton was a champion, including youth engagement, the role of municipalities, affordable housing or public transit. Upon completion of the term, Fellows will be given the opportunity to have their work presented to municipal leaders from across the country.
Specific positions
- Policy and Public Affairs Fellow
The Policy and Public Affairs (PPA) Fellow position, will support the department’s policy, outreach, communications and operations work by providing research and analysis on current municipal policy issues, as well as contributing to social media strategy and outreach and engagement projects. The fellow will also contribute to the collective Jack Layton Fellowship Project. The position is designed for a summer term graduate student, co-op or Fellowship placements, or recent graduates.
- Sustainability Working Group Fellow
Working closely with FCM’s Sustainability Working Group (SWG), the summer intern will support the implementation of the organization’s Sustainability Charter, which outlines seven key performance areas that need to be addressed in order for FCM to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions: transportation, procurement, energy use in buildings, waste management, events/meetings, water conservation and staff engagement.
- Environmental Verification and Database Fellow
The Impact Research and Performance (IRP) unit of the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is seeking a summer intern to help determine the environmental benefits of GMF projects and begin to develop and implement an online project database to track the environmental performance of funded projects. You will have a unique opportunity to put your strategic and technical skills to work for the good of municipalities all across Canada.
- Low Carbon Cities Canada Fellow
The Low Carbon Cities Canada (LC3) network is a partnership between seven of Canada’s largest cities in collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Its mission is to enable the identification, incubation and widespread adoption of low-carbon solutions to support municipalities in reaching their carbon emissions reduction potential while improving public health, creating jobs and building resilient communities. The National Office, hosted by FCM’s Green Municipal Fund is seeking a summer intern to support the delivery of its services to the LC3 network. A specific scope of work will be developed for the intern in advance of their arrival. The intern’s work will build upon the existing LC3 workplan for the year 2022-2023.
- Client and Funding Services (CFS) Fellow – Data research and visualization
The CFS unit of the GMF is seeking a summer intern to support its data quality identification and visualization within its centralized client service support team. A specific scope of work will be developed for the intern in advance of their arrival. The intern’s work will build upon existing CFS improvement initiatives.
- Client and Funding Services (CFS) Fellow
The CFS unit of the GMF is seeking a summer intern to support its implementation of services to deliver superior client services. A specific scope of work will be developed for the intern in advance of their arrival. The intern’s work will build upon existing CFS improvement initiatives.
- Continuous Improvement Fellow
The Continuous Improvement team contributes to making GMF thrive by working with other teams to improve processes and find the right-sized solution that leads GMF to be collectively more effective and more efficient. The CI team help GMF create a culture of continuous improvement by ensuring the philosophy of improvement is instilled in everyone, empowering employees to make daily, incremental improvements which ultimately improve the quality of the products and services we offer our clients.
How to apply
- This placement will be for a 16-week period over spring and summer. Students will gain knowledge and practical experience in organizational sustainability and will develop professional networks for their respective careers.
- FCM staff and interns work seven hours per day, Monday through Thursday during July and August, and 7.5 hours per day Monday to Friday for other parts of the year.
- The pay will be $20/hour (depending on the specific position) plus vacation pay of four per cent, which is subject to statutory deductions.
The benefits to joining the FCM team include summer hours (Fridays off between July 1st and Labour Day); office facilities located in the ByWard Market, FCM’s commitment to employee development and a competitive range of employee benefits and services. FCM encourages flexible work arrangements to support the wellbeing and productivity of employees.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is committed to fostering an organizational culture that embraces equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, where individuals from diverse racial and ethnic identities, nationalities, social economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and physical and mental abilities can thrive and be fully engaged at their best level.
FCM welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruitment and selection process.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FCM is currently under a work from home protocol until further notice. The successful candidate must have the ability to work from home during this period. When the office re-opens, this role will work some combination of work from home and at the office. All in-office work and in-person meetings for work that take place outside of the office will be subject to FCM’s Safe Workplace Vaccination Policy, as well as its health and safety procedures.
It is a mandatory condition of employment at FCM that the successful candidate be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with vaccines that have been approved by the Government of Canada at least 14 days prior to their start date and will be required to provide proof. If accommodation is required in relation to this condition of employment for any reason pursuant to the Ontario Human Rights Code, please contact us at careers@fcm.ca directly.
For additional information on this posting, or for further information on FCM, access our website at www.fcm.ca. Visit the careers section of our website to apply.
Deadline for applications is April 18, 2022.
We thank all candidates for their interest; however, we will only contact those selected for an interview. All the applications will be kept on file for six months following the hiring.