Katimavik Died

The government cut Katimavik's funding entirely, and the program has been cancelled. I feel like I'm a whirlwind of destruction, leaving everywhere I go damaged or destroyed. First it was Mali, and now it's Katimavik.

Right now, the program is more important than ever. In this recession, you can't get work unless you have experience, and you can't get experience unless you have work. Poverty is on the rise, and less people can afford post-secondary. Katimavik was an inexpensive way for youth to get job experience, volunteer experience, and education. After Katimavik, I was playing an entirely different game in the working world than I was before I did the program.

This has happened before, and it's come back. I don't know why Katimavik always seems to be the program that's given a hard time. Canada World Youth is more expensive to the government, less well-known, and less excessible to the public, but nobody seems to ever consider cutting it.

Katimavik is a more important credential to impoverished youth trying to get their foot in the door, too. Canada World Youth is a better high-end credential for if you want a job that has to do with international relations, or something. You just can't fill a resume with the stuff you do in CWY like you could with Katimavik.

I'm going to be voting for the first time this year. So far, I've really hit the stereotype of an apathetic youth, and an ignorant blue-collar worker. Two groups that are known for not voting, while being effected by governmental changes more harshly. I knew I was living up to these stereotypes, and I knew it was bad, but I just didn't pay a lot of attention to politics, and didn't feel invested in things like news.

Maybe youth and blue-collar people don't vote because they're so used to getting screwed over, and learning to accept it is a learned skill, so it doesn't really occur to us that we can make a difference, or it doesn't give us the same feeling of empowerment, because we're not used to making successful contributions.

Maybe youths don't vote simply because they haven't lived long enough, and haven't had enough experiences that have deeply effected them. This may be a sign that I'm starting to leave the "youth" category, as I'm going to be voting, and the reason is because of a past experience.

I'll be voting against the fools who cancelled Katimavik, obviously. I wish I could just give them an anti-vote, to detract from their total post count, instead of voting for another party.

We were going into our third Katimavik group in Guelph. We didn't get the full worth of our five year contract!

There goes my goal of becoming a Katimavik Project Leader.