Mr. Speaker, today, I have the opportunity to discuss the minister's dismissive response with regard to the cancellation of the Katimavik program. The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages said the following: “Ending funding for Katimavik is one of the easiest decisions I have ever made.” This is the same minister who described how proud he was to support this program in the organization's 2009-10 annual report, stating that:
—[Katimavik] encourages our youth to get to better know and understand Canada, its history, its citizens, and its communities. Katimavik prepares the younger generation to demonstrate their civic engagement today in order to ensure a better tomorrow.
This same minister congratulated youth on making such a significant contribution to the vitality of our country.
This summer, I travelled across Canada trying to understand why this decision was so “easy” to make. I met with hundreds of organizations and individuals across the country to discuss the impact of the program on their communities and their lives. I saw the extraordinary projects that were carried out and I understand the huge loss that this “easy” decision has caused.
In Whitehorse, youth breathed new life and new energy into a number of organizations that did not have the resources necessary to provide services to members of the community.
In Calgary, Katimavik made a major contribution to helping new immigrants in Alberta whose language was that of the minority by providing them with services in their mother tongue.
In Lethbridge, youth in the Katimavik program created tools for life that were distributed in an employment centre that aboriginal youth and other young people in the region go to in order to obtain services, find jobs and become independent.
In Winnipeg, among other things, volunteers even planted gardens and shared their crops with disadvantaged people in the community.
In Sioux Lookout, this program is at the heart of the town. It helped all the organizations to offer more services. I am thinking in particular of Out of the Cold Sioux Lookout, which helps homeless people and where a young volunteer decided to stay for the summer, after the program had ended, because she saw how desperate the needs were and how little help was available.
In Charlottetown, this “easy” decision meant that Habitat for Humanity was unable to build a house for families that really needed it.
In Moncton, volunteers were true mentors for young people in difficulty.
In Wolfville, this “easy” decision put a stop to projects, including one involving the creation of a “Youth Booth” in the public market and another involving the intergenerational transfer of knowledge through computer training sessions at the library.
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of noise in the chamber. Could you please ask those who are talking to stop?