Charlene Hammell likes rural Manitoba and hopes she can return there to work some day.
She’s in her first year of agribusiness studies at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon. She wants to eventually work in sales and marketing, a career that could fit well in a rural setting.
But at this point, Hammell is not sure where her career will take her and there is no telling whether better opportunities might eventually entice her to another province.
“As of right now, I would like to stay in rural Manitoba,” she said, during a break between classes at the college. “I’m a bit of a homebody.”
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Hammell is like a lot of youths whose ambitions have drawn them away from rural communities to pursue a higher education. They say they would gladly forgo city life if there were opportunities to pursue their careers closer to home, and Manitoba is where many hope to find jobs.
There may be some hope for them, depending on how the recent throne speech from the Manitoba government is interpreted.
Through that speech, the government indicated there are growing opportunities for young Manitobans to build their future in the province, rather than having to go elsewhere. For the year ending June 2003, there were more people between the ages of 15-24 coming into the province than leaving. The net gain was 1,055 more young people.
“This is our best result for youth migration since 1984,” said lt.-gov. Peter Liba, while delivering the throne speech.
But there were a couple of things not covered in his speech. There was no mention of whether most young people seeking opportunities in Manitoba were going to urban or rural areas. The province has no accurate way to gauge that.
And the speech also did not mention that the improvement was driven largely by the number of young people moving to Manitoba from outside the country. The outlook is not quite as positive when the numbers of young people arriving from other countries are removed from the equation. In the past year, more people between the ages of 15-24 left Manitoba than moved there from other Canadian provinces.
Still, there is hope for people like Hammell. In its throne speech the province pledged more support for rural economic development, with an emphasis on things like rural-based alternative energy development such as ethanol and wind power.
A.J. Hrychuk and Janelle Sprung are among those who say they would jump at the opportunity to work and live in rural Manitoba once they finish their university studies. Both are 4-H ambassadors who grew up in rural settings.
Hrychuk is studying to become a speech pathologist. He grew up on a farm, but knew that teaching was something he wanted to do from the time he was a child.
While confident that he will find work in his chosen career, he’s not as certain that he can land a job as a speech pathologist in a rural area immediately after graduating. However, he sounded determined to one day return to his rural roots.
“Home is where the heart is.”
Sprung grew up in Morden, Man., and will be graduating from university next spring. The emphasis of her studies has been on human resource management, marketing, logistics and transportation.
“If there’s a chance to go back to Morden I would seriously consider it.”
However, she said she is not fixed on working in a particular geographical area. She is willing to consider moving to where she sees the best opportunities.
Similar sentiments are shared by Melissa Melnychuk, who grew up in the small town of Dunton, Man., and is studying to become a 4-H youth specialist.
“I would like to be back in a rural setting,” she said. “I guess it depends on what life brings me.”
