Completing Your Regional Affiliation

Overview

Each year, your region affiliates with Youth Science Canada (YSC) in the YSC Portal. Affiliation confirms your region's details and committee, tells us about your regional STEM fair, and sets how many finalists and delegates you plan to send to the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF). It is also where you sign the Affiliation Agreement.

The deadline for 2027 affiliation is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, December 31, 2026. Fees and payment details are in 2027 Regional Affiliation Information.

If you used the previous portal, What's New in YSC Portal 3.0 explains what has changed.

Before you start

Have this information handy:

Your region's website and a short description of your region, in English and/or French
Your region's mailing address
Names and email addresses of your committee members
Your fair's dates, format (in person, virtual or hybrid), grades and venue
How many finalists and delegates you plan to send to CWSF
Whether you'll use YSC's insurance or your own policy

You don't have to finish in one sitting. Your work saves every time you move to another step, and the portal reopens at the first step that isn't complete.

Getting to affiliation

Sign in at portal.youthscience.ca.
In the sidebar, under your region's name, click Affiliation.
The page shows Affiliation 2027 with your region's status. Work through the steps in order using Next, or click any step in the list to jump to it.

Each step shows Complete, Incomplete or Not started. If a step is missing something, it is listed under Still needed on this step.

Note: Only committee members with Administrator access can complete affiliation. If you see a message that you have read-only access, ask your regional coordinator to make the changes or to give you Administrator access.

The steps

1. Region Profile

Confirm and update your region's details. YSC manages your fair's name, province and population band. If one of those is wrong, submit a support request.

To complete this step, you need your community type, the languages your fair runs in, your website and description (in at least one language), and your mailing address.

2. Committee

Your committee carries over from last year. Review it and update anyone who has changed. Each change saves as soon as you make it.

Your committee must include someone in each of these roles. One person can hold more than one:

Regional coordinator (your region's primary contact, who receives YSC communications)
Secondary contact, whom we contact if the coordinator can't be reached
Chief judge, who may be contacted by the CWSF chief judge about a project
Ethics and safety contact for your region's Ethics Committee
Media contact, to whom YSC directs media inquiries

Each member can have Administrator, Member (view only) or No access. Giving someone new Administrator or Member access sends them an email invitation to create a portal account.

3. Fair details

First, answer Are you running a regional fair this year?

If you choose No fair this year, your region can still affiliate, but it won't send participants to CWSF. Several later steps then have nothing to fill in.
If you choose Yes, we are running a fair, enter your fair's start and end dates, type of event, and the lowest and highest grades. For in-person and hybrid fairs, also enter the venue's city and province and place the Map pin. Your fair dates must be before CWSF.

If your region holds more than one fair, click Add another fair. Once you're affiliated, your fair details appear on the Regional Fair Finder on the YSC website.

4. CWSF participation

The CWSF allocation card shows the maximum number of finalists your region can send and the minimum number of delegates you need. Enter your Planned finalists and Planned delegates.

Check these numbers carefully. Count finalists (students), not projects. Your first invoice includes a deposit for each planned participant, and the number of CWSF invitations you can send later is based on these numbers. See CWSF Finalist and Delegate Allotments for how allotments are set.

5. Regional awards

For each YSC regional award, answer Will your region offer this award? and any additional questions from the sponsor. Read each award's criteria carefully so it goes to an eligible student and project. If you offer an award, you'll report the winner on the Regional Fair page within 7 days of your fair.

6. Insurance

Choose Insured under the YSC policy or We have our own insurance policy. Virtual fairs, and regions not running a fair, don't need to make an insurance declaration.

If you have your own policy, you can upload your certificate of insurance now or later. It isn't needed to submit your affiliation. See Insurance for Regional STEM Fairs for the coverage requirements.

7. Other

Answer any questions YSC is asking regions this year. If there are none, this step says so.

8. Affiliation agreement

Read the Affiliation Agreement, tick the box to accept it, and confirm your name and title. Your acceptance is recorded when you submit your affiliation.

9. Review and submit

The Review step summarizes each section, with an Edit link to go back and change it. Anything still missing is listed with a link to the step that needs it.

When every step is complete, click Submit affiliation, then Yes, submit it to confirm.

Note: Your affiliation isn't submitted until you click Submit affiliation and confirm. Completing every step is not enough on its own.

After you submit

Your region is affiliated as soon as you submit. The page then shows What happens next, including anything still owed, such as an insurance certificate.

What you can still change yourself: your region profile, committee, fair details and insurance certificate.

What YSC needs to change for you: whether you're running a fair, your planned CWSF participation, your regional awards and your insurance choice. To change any of these, submit a support request. Changes to your planned participation may result in an adjusted invoice.

Your first invoice will be emailed to your region's administrators, and you can view it on the Accounting tab of your Region Profile.

After the deadline

After 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on December 31, 2026, the affiliation page becomes view-only. A region that hasn't submitted by then is not affiliated. If you need more time, contact us before the deadline.

Need more help?

Click the Help button on any page of the portal to see articles about that page, or to contact support directly from where you are. You can also submit a support request through the Help Centre.