Access to Mentors

In 2019, Mentor Canada launched the first ever pan-Canadian study on youth mentoring: The State of Mentoring Research Initiative.

For the first time, we have detailed information about young people’s mentoring experiences. In early 2020, 2,838 young adults in Canada participated in the National Youth Mentoring Survey and reported on their mentoring experiences during their childhood and adolescence (6 to 18 years old).

Five Key Findings

55.8^%
of young people mentored

55.8% of young people across Canada were mentored when they were growing up.

31.5^%
took part in formal mentoring programs

Among mentored youth, 31.5% took part in formal mentoring programs. This is equivalent to approximately 16% of all youth who participated in the survey.

50^% +
of young adults wished they'd had a mentor

Over 1 in 2 young adults reported that they could think of a time when they did not have a mentor but wished they had had one.

55^%
of youth facing barriers didn’t know how to find a mentor

55% of young people who faced barriers accessing mentors said that they did not know how to find one.

2×
likelihood of mentored youth interested in mentoring others

Mentored youth are twice as likely to be interested in mentoring others in the future than non-mentored youth.

This dashboard allows you to explore detailed data pertaining to 3 major research questions.

Who has access to mentors?

The data shown corresponds to the percentage of respondents who could recall having access to at least one person they would consider a mentor at some point between the ages of 6 to 18. This could include natural or informal mentors as well as formal mentors.

Who has access to formal mentors?

The data shown corresponds to the proportion of respondents who had access to a formal mentor among those who had access to a mentor: The respondents who answered yes to question 1, were then asked if any of their mentors was a formal mentor.

Caution! The percentage shown here does not reflect the percentage across the entire survey sample.

Example: 1490 respondents, or 55.8%, had access to a mentor (Question 1) at the national level. Of them 1,444 provided an answer to question 2: 455 or 31.5% said they had a formal mentor. This is equivalent to approximately 16% of all respondents (2,838) who had access to a formal mentor.

Who reports unmet needs with regards to access to mentors?

The data shown corresponds to the percentage of all respondents who can recall at least one time when they wished they had a mentor but did not have one. This includes both respondents who were never mentored as well as those who reported having had access to at least one mentor.

You can refine your exploration of the data by looking at 3 of the respondents’ demographic characteristics.

Location

When data is insufficient to show results at the provincial level, we have shown them at the regional level.

Gender identity

Age

The data shown corresponds to the age of the respondents and allows you to explore differences between the younger (18-24) and older (25-30) respondents’ experiences during their childhood and adolescence. It does not provide any information about whether or not the respondents were mentored after they entered adulthood.