A couple of teams of young volunteers from all over Canada could spend part of next year on the islands, doing thousands of hours of volunteer work for non-profit groups, a Tlell resident told Port Clements council Monday night (Feb. 19).
But first, the federally-run volunteer program, known as Katimavik, needs community organizations to come up with projects for the young people to do, Christine Pansino explained.
These projects could be anything from helping museums sort out their archives, to painting schools, to cleaning up trails, to working with disabled adults, Ms Pansino said. There is no cost to the organization.
Katimavik puts together teams of Canadians between the ages of 17 and 21 who work on projects in communities all over the country. The program works with community partner organizations who come up with work for the volunteers to do.
Ms Pansino said she has been talking to other communities on the islands about the possibilities offered by Katimavik. She told council that she is not employed by Katimavik, but participated in the program after high school and got a lot out of it. After moving to Tlell last year, she began thinking that the islands could benefit from the program.
Ms Pansino said she has been talking to the Katimavik regional coordinator in Vancouver, and that there is an opportunity for one new project in BC, which would start in January 2008 and run for seven months.
Port council members were enthusiastic about the idea.
"I had two nephews involved in Katimavik, they thought it was really great," councillor Brock Storry said.
Mayor Cory Delves said Port will do some brainstorming to come up with possible projects, and thanked Ms Pansino for all the information.