Dana Welsh, the newly elected National Rural Youth Network representative from British Columbia, is a recent convert.
She was raised near Toronto but enjoyed spending summers in the mining community of Trail, B.C. Three years ago, after she finished her education, she came to Trail to live, and this year bought her first house there. She works in a teen centre in nearby Castlegar that is funded by local municipalities.
“Here we’re the only place for youth to go when the coffee shop closes in the evening.”
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Welsh wants everyone to be able to stay in their home districts.
“I want to show rural youth that you don’t have to go to a city to live or work,” said Welsh. “There’s so much happening and you can still live in a small town.”
She is excited about her one-year term on the federal government-sponsored rural youth network that is designed to allow those aged 15-29 to talk with each other and to spread information about federal programs while conveying to policy makers what rural youth want.
Welsh is new to the three-year-old network, hearing about it from a friend who was the B.C. representative last year.
While the network mainly uses an internet website and chat room forum to communicate among provincial reps, they also use regular mail and face-to-face meetings. Welsh is not looking forward to the travelling part because leaving the area is difficult once snow arrives.
“Castlegar is 10,000 people but it’s isolated. It’s between two mountains and the roads are terrible in winter.”
Alberta rep Shawna Wallace was acclaimed while Saskatchewan members re-elected Steven Gauthier, who has been the network’s treasurer for the past two years. Manitoba will hold an election next year.
Past-president Stephanie Maynard of Quebec said no matter what area they live in, rural youth have similar needs for jobs and education near their homes.
The network may develop a questionnaire this year to obtain numbers and add credibility to the present membership’s views, she added.
She said there are concerns that the network is duplicating 4-H or the Young Farmers Forum, but Maynard said the youth network doesn’t organize events or act as a lobby group for policies. Rather, it is an advocate for rural youth to the government.
“There is a huge interest (in youth) from the prime minister’s advisory committee on cities and communities, which checks our website,” she said.
Last year the network received $40,000 from the federal government but Maynard said it would like to become an independent nonprofit group, raising its own funds.
