Katimavik, a popular nationwide youth volunteer program, will no longer receive government funding after the Conservatives announced a number of federal budget cuts March 29.
The program, launched under the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau in 1977, sends youth from across the country to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for placements of up to six months. The participants, aged 17 to 21, work in communities away from their homes, and alongside other volunteers picked from different parts of the country.
Katimavik’s programming will end in July, according to a message on its website.
“We hear different perspectives from around the country,” said Miranda Day, a Katimavik volunteer from Toronto currently working in Nova Scotia. “We get a better understanding of the issues affecting the country.”
The department of canadian heritage funds the program with $15 million a year. The per person cost of the program is approximately $28,000, said James Maunder, a spokesperson for Heritage Minister James Moore.
“About [one-third] of youth who enrol in the program ultimately drop out,” Maunder said via email. “Ending the Katimavik program is a responsible decision that will save taxpayers over $15 million per year while allowing the [government] to find new, more efficient ways to give young people the opportunities they deserve.”
The Ottawa-based Otesha Project is one of many NGOs that receive volunteers from Katimavik. Shirley Manh, the organization’s development director, said Katimavik means a lot not only to the youth who participate in the program, but also to the organizations that benefit from it.
“The nation as whole should be supporting their youth,” Manh said. “I can’t say enough about how these volunteers help not only Otesha, but also other organizations around the country.”
“We were really shocked and disappointed by the decision,” she added.
Manh said she’s hopeful Katimavik will survive, maybe in some other form, after the funding cut. She said it was important to maintain the philosophy of the program.
For Day, a highlight of working with the program was to be able to be a part of the Katimavik legacy. She said she heard from organizations she was placed with about the work and impact previous Katimavik volunteers had.
“Nothing compares to seeing a smile on someone’s face,” she said.
“It’s great to see their growth,” Manh agreed. “Many [of the volunteers] haven’t seen a lot of the country. It’s nice to see their development.”
This isn’t the first time the program has been cut, as Manh pointed out. The program’s government funding was cut under Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government in the 1980s, before it was revived by Jean Chrétien’s Liberals in 1995.
Katimavik said the government’s decision came as a “surprise” and they were “disappointed,” according to a March 29 statement.
They also urged Katimavik’s supporters to write to their MPs to help reverse the decision.
“For the past 35 years, Katimavik has helped shape a civically responsible Canada by harnessing the power of our young volunteers to help those in need in communities across Canada,” the statement read. “In that time, over 30,000 Canadian youth have made a difference in communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast.”
