Welcome to the House of Commons Page Program!

Each year, 40 exceptional students from across Canada get the chance to work at the heart of Canada’s democracy by participating in the House of Commons Page Program.

Pages are bilingual first-year students registered at one of the eligible post-secondary institutions in the National Capital Region. They work part-time on Parliament Hill for one year and gain hands-on experience inside the House of Commons. They provide non-partisan support to Members of Parliament and participate in exclusive events on the Hill.

Are you starting your post-secondary studies in September 2027? Apply by November 8, 2026!

History

Pages first began working in the House during the early years of Confederation. At that time, young boys, often from families experiencing financial difficulty, were chosen to become pages.

Over time, the role of a page evolved significantly. A report prepared in the mid-1970s by the Standing Committee on Management and Members’ Services concluded that the Canadian page program needed modernization to better reflect Canadian society. The report recommended that the program should

• symbolize the national character of Parliament;
• increase the public’s knowledge of parliamentary proceedings;
• provide high-quality service to Members of Parliament; and
• offer employment opportunities for young people, regardless of gender.

The program as we know it today was introduced in 1978 by the Honourable James A. Jerome, who was then the Speaker of the House. To meet the objectives set out in the report, page positions were offered to high school and CEGEP graduates from across Canada who were beginning their university studies in the National Capital Region. Today, pages come from diverse backgrounds and attend various universities and colleges in Ottawa and Gatineau.

At the time of the program’s renewal, in an address to Members in the House, Speaker Jerome stated the following:

“We know we will benefit greatly from [the pages’] presence here and we hope they will as well and, indeed, that in future years the entire country will benefit from having these citizens back in the country, better equipped through education and through their exposure here to a practical knowledge of the Canadian House of Commons” (Debates, October 10, 1978, p. 6953).

For more information

• Bosc, Marc. “The Commons Then and Now: Pages.” Canadian Parliamentary Review, 12(2), Summer 1989.
• Levy, Gary. “Pages in Parliament and the Legislatures.” Canadian Parliamentary Review, 2(2), June 1979.