The Mastercard Foundation has announced that it will invest C$500 million ($364 million) in its EleV Program with the goal of providing 100,000 Indigenous youth across Canada with higher education and career opportunities.

The EleV Program partners with Indigenous-led organizations and higher education institutions to support and enable young people to pursue postsecondary education and meaningful work. According to the National Indigenous Economic Strategy, if Indigenous people had equitable access to economic opportunities, 135,000 more First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people would be employed, bringing in $6.9 billion per year in employment income. Through the EleV Program, the foundation will collaborate with more than 45 partners in education, employment, entrepreneurship, and growth sectors identified by Indigenous youth such as clean energy, ecotourism, and digital technology.

“The Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper,” said Mastercard Foundation president and CEO Reeta Roy. “Our EleV Program is a commitment to work as partners with Indigenous young people and communities to transform education and employment systems based on their visions and values, in ways that revitalize their languages and cultures. We are led in this work by young Indigenous people themselves, grounded in our commitment to co-creation and our responsibility to reconciliation.”

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