MISSISSAUGA: The Government of Canada has made a historic investment to help more than one million young Canadians and their teachers learn digital skills like coding so that they can get well-paying jobs today and tomorrow.
During a visit to Whitehorn Public School in Mississauga today, Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, joined by Melissa Sariffodeen, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Learning Code, celebrated the launch of a cross-country tour by Canada Learning Code’s Code Mobile fleet.
The Code Mobile is a computer lab on wheels and is equipped with laptops, robotics kits and invention kits. Thanks to support through the Government of Canada’s $50-million CanCode program, Code Mobile was able to expand its fleet from one to 13 vehicles and will teach over 140,000 Canadian students from kindergarten to grade 12 and their teachers coding and computational thinking.
The Code Mobile is one of many funded CanCode initiatives now rolling out across Canada.
Bains said: “Launching the Code Mobile fleet is literally putting innovation into motion! Our government is committed to investing in our number one asset: our talent.
“We want young Canadians to succeed, so we are helping equip them with the right skills for the middle-class jobs of the future.”
Sariffodeen said: “We’re hitting the road in a big way. Thanks to the investment from the CanCode program, we’re launching a fleet of 13 Code Mobiles with one bold mission: to introduce more than 140,000 youth and educators across Canada to the power of tech. Book your visit at CodeMobile.ca today!”
• CanCode will invest $50 million over two years, starting in 2017–18, to provide almost one million young Canadians, from kindergarten to Grade 12, with opportunities to develop their coding and digital skills.
• The program aims to encourage more girls, Indigenous Canadians and other under-represented groups to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
• It will also equip more than 63,000 teachers across the country with training and tools to teach digital skills and coding.