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Canadian Rural Partnership
Rural Youth 
PDF (279 KB) Recipients of the third On February 12, 2007 Canada's New Government, through the third Young Leaders in Rural Canada Awards recognized exceptional achievements and contributions by young Canadians. These annual awards highlight rural youth who dedicate their passion, spirit and skills to the benefit of rural, remote and northern communities throughout Canada in the following categories: Innovation, Leadership and Partnership. For more information, please call the toll-free number 1-888-781-2222. INNOVATION Diane Carey "Being innovative simply means showing creativity and finding solutions to challenges, while having limited means at your disposal." This is how Diane Carey candidly explains the approach she took to achieve very impressive results that have had a major impact on her rural area. After finishing university, this young woman from the Acadian Peninsula in northeastern New Brunswick quickly recognized that there was a high and rising level of rural-to-urban migration from her area. Young people were leaving to continue their education, but were not returning once they had finished. Ms. Carey, who had always wanted to start her career in Montreal, did an about turn and decided instead to return to her home region. She was hired by Enterprise Peninsula to work on initiatives aimed at bringing young people back to the Acadian Peninsula. "It's pretty funny," Ms. Carey explains, "because once I decided to move back, my friends teased me, wondering what there would be for me to do there! Now it's I who welcomes them back when they return to the Acadian Peninsula!" The groups she welcomes have been getting bigger and bigger since she innovated in 2004 with the creation of the first edition of Je reviens! J'y reste! [I've come back to stay], the only repatriation event of its kind in New Brunswick. The initiative Je reviens! J'y reste! is spearheaded by Enterprise Peninsula, a community and economic development agency. Over the course of a few days, the participants can attend workshops on finding a job, starting a business or simply hearing what young people who have chosen to live on the Acadian Peninsula have to say. This initiative has been so successful that it has become a very popular annual event. "In the three editions of Je reviens! J'y reste!, we've had a total of 66 participants, and 29 of those young people have come back to the Acadian Peninsula to stay," she says proudly. A number of other rural communities in the province have decided to follow suit by holding similar activities. Also, the idea of implementing this concept in other rural areas of the Atlantic provinces is being explored. However, far from resting on her laurels, Diane Carey wanted to develop more tools for young people who decide to return to the Acadian Peninsula. The Board of Directors and staff of Enterprise Peninsula recognize Ms. Carey's strong, dynamic personality, and above all, her sense of leadership. "She is an invaluable asset to Enterprise Peninsula, distinguishing herself by her accomplishments," said Enterprise Peninsula President Denis Mallet. "Ms. Carey surrounds herself with dynamic young people like herself to ensure the delivery of programs in rural areas and to stimulate the same interest in entrepreneurship as in the major centres." To convince people that life is good in her region, Ms. Carey developed a first promotional video showing examples of some young people who are finding success here. In 2005, she went even further, finding the financial partners needed to develop a first directory of activities for the area. "I wanted to challenge the myth that there's nothing to do here," she continues. She is currently working on an Internet site that will bring together employers looking for talent and young people wanting to return to the area.
Noba Anderson 'Love of place.' This is what inspired much of Noba Anderson's travel, volunteer, educational, and career pursuits. This theme has driven her extraordinary commitment to promote community eco-forestry practices in her community of Cortes Island and beyond. From an early age, Noba spoke out against clear-cut logging and her strong beliefs, along with her pursuit of alternatives to these forestry methods, led her to obtain a Bachelor of Sciences in Environmental Studies at Trent University. Both during her studies and after graduation, she worked abroad with community-based non-profit forest organizations in Central and South America and Indonesia. Though these travels were greatly enriching, each stint abroad heightened her desire to return to BC. She wanted to apply her international and educational experience to the benefit of her own home. Upon returning to Canada, Noba traveled throughout BC interviewing Community Forest practitioners and co-wrote "Connecting Lands and People: Community Forests in British Columbia", published by Dogwood Initiative in 2002. She then took these stories on the road again promoting community forestry and was deeply impacted by the responses she received. "People everywhere identify with community forestry because it is about local people making local decisions about their own backyards. It's that simple". This experience awakened a desire within her to commit her life's work to connecting people and places. Through her travels, Noba came to see that Cortes Island had so many of the necessary ingredients to create a successful community forest. She returned to her island home and is now the Executive Director of the Cortes Ecoforestry Society (CES), graced with a membership of over 400 people and broad island support. Their mission is "To work in partnership with the Klahoose First Nation; to gain community stewardship of the working forest lands on Cortes; to create perpetual ecological and economic benefits for the entire community; and to serve as a model for sustainable eco-forestry". The Community Forest story on Cortes is a long one. Throughout the late 1990s, the island went through an extensive community process, leading to the production of a set on ecosystem-based planning maps, as well as a community forest business and management plan. 'The Cortes Initiative', as it was called, was a groundbreaking collaboration between a community group, a first nation and a logging company. Together they worked to resolve difficult land-use issues and presented their model to the provincial government. However, due to political changes both locally and provincially, the initiative was shelved for a few years. The Cortes Community Forest project may have temporarily slowed down, but Noba certainly hasn't. She has met with the Minister of Forests in Victoria, organized fundraising events, joined the Board of Directors of the BC Community Forest Association, and attended numerous conferences and annual general meetings. Noba has employed her flare for writing to contribute where possible on her subjects of passion, locally and beyond. Back on Cortes, she organized a community gathering and moved the crowd to tears when speaking of her commitment and dedication to the land and people of Cortes. Her latest pursuit - a grassroots 2007 Cortes nude calendar (www.cortesecoforestry.org). Clearly, Noba's visionary leadership and commitment to the 'right relationship' with her own community and the land has greatly contributed to the Cortes Community Forest effort. One of her colleagues summed it up best. "Noba Anderson has the great gift of keeping a flame alive: the community forest dream". In a very public role, Noba seeks to identify common threads and weave the fabric of strong community.
Luella Chiasson "Growing up in a rural community, I realized that you just can't wait around for someone to do the work for you," explains Luella Chiasson who is originally from Belle Côte, on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. "To quote Gandhi, I would say that you must be the change you want to see in the world." And she did just that! After graduating from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Chiasson was hired as a Program Manager by Junior Achievement (JA) in Sydney, Nova Scotia, which works towards helping youth reaching their potential through partnerships with businesses and educators. She soon realized that although she had the passion and energy to achieve her new professional goals, she might still need help from others through partnerships. "To me, it was clear that with limited resources like funding and time, it didn't make any sense to have everybody do their own thing," Chiasson recalls. Catherine Ann Fuller, Development Officer for the Nova Scotia Office of Economic Development couldn't agree more with Luella's approach. "Being from a rural area of Cape Breton, she has a true appreciation of the struggles of rural youth and their issues," she says. "I have seldom come into contact with such an astute and pleasant person, who is willing to help and encourages others to volunteer as well." "I decided to become a member of my Junior Chamber International (JCI)," Chiasson explains, "which provides opportunities for young people to develop leadership skills, social responsibility, entrepreneurship and fellowship necessary to create positive change in the world." She immediately started thinking about how JCI Cape Breton could work with JA. The first project was spawned from a meeting between representatives of JCI Cape Breton, JA and Cape Breton University (CBU). "At the meeting, we all agreed that even if our organizations had very different mandates, we all had a youth focus and that we could work together on a unique project which would add value to our region." It didn't take long before the Cape Breton Youth Excellence Awards program was created. [This event is now called the Outstanding Young Leader Awards and Dinner.] This special event showcases the successes of Cape Breton's young leaders in a wide range of areas. Over the years, it has become a real community event and people now look for the call for nominations and are excited about sharing the celebration of these award winner' accomplishments. The partnership between JA, JCI Cape Breton and CBU is what Chiasson calls a "synergistic relationship". "Not one of the individual partners could have created an awards program as great as what was produced by the three of us working together." The relationship between the three partners works so well that new common projects are being undertaken. Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between JA, JCI Cape Breton and CBU. The purpose of the MOU is to formalize a support network, allow for joint events and promote information-sharing and event opportunities within the partnership. Luella Chiasson learned early on that if you want it to happen, you have to make it happen and she lives by these words every day. "Of course, there is the element of synergy and the fact that you get better and innovative ideas as a group, but partnerships also give youth a common and louder voice, making sure they are heard, no matter where they live ... We can't overlook the power of numbers," she concludes.
LEADERSHIP Heather Muir "Are you my type?" When Heather Muir uses this line, it isn't the classic come-on; she really does want to know your blood type! Furthermore, no matter the type, what Muir really wants to know is whether you're willing to donate it. Along with a biography that requires yearly up-dating in 'Canadian Who's Who', a bevy of awards, honours, accolades and triumphs trail in Muir's wake. Now, in recognition of her rural community work, this honour roll student, motivational speaker and volunteer extraordinaire has received an Honourable Mention in the Young Leaders in Rural Canada Awards. The 20-year-old Walkerton/Bruce County native is being recognized for her work with Canadian Blood Services (CBS). Muir's ability to mobilize youth has taken many forms but most successful are her student blood donation clinics. Muir's involvement with CBS spans 16 years. Now a student at the University of Waterloo, she has been a volunteer for most of her life. After being diagnosed with a threatening illness at the age of four and requiring countless blood transfusions, Muir took it upon herself to become focused on what she could do to increase the blood supply. "She motivated and encouraged not only her peers but her entire community," notes Brockton Mayor Charlie Bagnato. "Coupled by deft determination and an unyielding personal ethic, Heather has been instrumental in the success of many clinics including numerous student clinics on behalf of CBS. With her leadership, these youth clinics continue to flourish." Muir continues to play a leadership role in the blood program by participating in the CBS Volunteer Speakers Bureau and by sitting on the Volunteer Advisory Council. Recognizing her outstanding leadership abilities, Muir was chosen to be the Vice-Chair of the Regional Community Liaison Committee. Her expertise concerning Canadian youth and blood donation also contributed to her being selected as the only youth delegate to sit on the National Community Liaison Committee in Ottawa. With an excess of 8,000 volunteer hours and more than a dozen notable awards, Muir has made enormous contributions for her age. "She has and will continue to make a difference to Canadians," Bagnato said. "Heather does encompass the spirit of leadership."
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