Katimavik says it faces 'orderly shutdown' in March unless federal dollars flow
Youth community service program marks 40th anniversary, with funding up in the air
Katimavik will be forced to shut down for good in March unless the federal government delivers program funding — fast.
The youth volunteer service program, which marked its 40th anniversary Thursday, has been operating a small program on a shoestring budget since the previous Conservative government eliminated its annual funding of $14 million five years ago.
The organization's dwindling reserves will dry up in weeks, aside from a fund set aside for an "orderly shutdown."
Katimavik was hopeful it would get a considerable portion of a $105-million envelope for youth programs announced in last year's budget. But a year later, board chair Willy Fournier said the organization has heard nothing from the government about when, or if, federal funding will flow, despite repeated attempts to get answers.
"We feel really discouraged, and there have been no signals one way or the other," he said.
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After the last budget, Katimavik kicked into high gear to be "switch-ready" to relaunch the program to coincide with Canada's 150th birthday celebrations. Its plan was to keep the core community volunteer service, civic engagement and environmental stewardship components, but include a new focus on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
When the Conservatives cut funding in 2012, James Moore, who was heritage minister at the time, said the program was too expensive and had a high dropout rate.
Program killed for political reasons?
"As a minister of Canadian Heritage, you have to make some tough decisions and some easy decisions," Moore said in the House of Commons. "Ending funding for Katimavik is one of the easiest decisions I've ever made."
At that time Justin Trudeau, who served as Katimavik's chair between 2002 and 2006, accused the Conservative government of killing the program for political reasons because it was launched under a Liberal government led by his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Now, Fournier said they'll be putting final pressure on the prime minister.
"We'll be making one last big kick at the can, saying, 'Come on Mr. Trudeau, you said this is why you went in to politics and you were the one who told us in 2014 to keep it alive any way you can because it's important to Canada.' Well, we've done that."
The program had been cut once before. Senator Jacques Hébert, who helped create the program as a federal cabinet minister in the 1970s, went on a 21-day hunger strike in 1986 when the government of Brian Mulroney chopped funding. It was partially restored in the Jean Chrétien era, only to face the final cut in 2012.
Employment and Social Development Canada said the $105-million Youth Service Initiative committed to helping Canadians "gain valuable work and life experience while providing support for communities across Canada."
Funding details to come
The department said details on disbursement of the fund would be announced "in the coming months."
"Helping young Canadians gain valuable work and life experience while providing support for communities across Canada is a major priority of our government; we're working hard on our plan to deliver this critical investment," said Jean-Bruno Villeneuve, spokesman for Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Patty Hajdu.
Fournier said Katimavik's days are numbered without that funding, after years of planning and clinging to hope for renewal.
"We're set to go, we've done all this work. We've got a vastly revamped program based on the anchor of reconciliation," he said.
