Vision & Mission
To accelerate and scale world-class mentoring in Canada.
Mentor Canada is the only national organization dedicated to supporting and building capacity for mentoring across the country.
Through Mentor Canada, programs and initiatives can conveniently access a comprehensive portfolio of leading-edge mentoring resources, research, training, and networking opportunities.
We convene and work alongside governments, the private sector, schools, and community organizations at local, provincial and national levels to build a world-class mentoring ecosystem in Canada that can address significant barriers and challenges, particularly for youth furthest from opportunity.
Strategic Priorities
Influence & Inspire
Inspire a culture of prioritizing and investing in mentoring relationships for young people in Canada.
Research & Data
Advance research on effective, equitable and quality mentoring relationships, structures, and policies.
Build Capacity & Impact
Leverage expertise to support partners and the mentoring field in accelerating and deepening mentoring impact.
Tools & Solutions
Advance and share evidence-based tools and solutions to remove systemic and individual barriers to quality mentoring.
Canada has a Mentoring Gap.
Mentor Canada’s Strategic Plan tackles it head on.
Unpacking the Mentoring Gap
Young Canadians face complex, interconnected challenges, especially in relation to mental health, employment, and inclusion. Mentoring can help. Mentored youth are more confident, likely to succeed in education, prepared for employment, and more socially connected than those who aren’t mentored. Yet almost half of Canada’s youth are unable to experience these powerful advantages, simply because they cannot find a mentor.
The Mentoring Gap
Defined as a lack of access to the right kind of mentoring opportunities at the right time, Canada’s Mentoring Gap has multiple dimensions, and each deepens our understanding of the scope and implications of unmet needs.
Barrier 1: Lack of access to mentors.
A staggering 44% of young people we surveyed did not recall having a mentor of any kind at any point between the ages of 6 to 18. That’s equivalent to about 2 million youth in Canada who did not reap the benefits of mentoring.
Barrier 2: Lack of access to mentors at the right time.
More than half of young adults recalled a time growing up when they wanted a mentor but did not have access to one. The mentoring gap cannot be closed by simply providing one mentor for each young person. In fact, 62% of youth in Canada who had at least one mentor recall a time when they did not have access to mentoring when they needed it most.
Barrier 3: Lack of access to the right mentors at the right time for equity-deserving groups.
72% of youth with a diagnosed disability, 69% of youth from sexual minorities, and 61% of Indigenous youth recall a time when they wanted a mentor but did not have one.
Barrier 4: Lack of access to programs.
- Only about 16% of youth had a program mentor during their childhood and adolescence.
- Over 60% of organizations report that the demand for mentoring programs outpaces their offering and availability.
- More than half of organizations state that mentor recruitment is one of the greatest challenges impacting their program growth and reach.
- Youth aged 18 to 30 encounter a “cliff’s edge of service”: with only about a quarter of mentoring programs in Canada continuing to serve young people after they turn 18, young adults are expected to make their way into the working world with little support.
Together, we can overcome Barriers.
Thousands of young people across the country are waiting for or seeking a mentor. With them in mind—and our Strategic Plan leading the way—Mentor Canada is developing and delivering the world-class solutions that mentoring organizations and programs need today, to make a difference tomorrow.
Learn about actions you can take to help address the mentoring gap.