The following statement was issued today by Gerald Smith, Minister Responsible for the Strategic Social Plan. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

National Volunteer Week, April 22 to 28, 2001

I rise today to recognize a very important celebration which will take place throughout Canada during the week of April 22 to 28, 2001. I am referring, of course, to National Volunteer Week which recognizes the many people who, by volunteering in their communities, make our lives richer and more secure. I also want to recognize that this year, 2001, has been designated by the United Nations as International Year of the Volunteer, to recognize globally the immense importance of volunteers.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador recognizes the important role volunteers play in our social end economic growth. In our province, volunteers contribute nearly 80 million hours a year in formal and informal voluntary work time � helping people who are sick, elderly or disabled; providing first aid and counseling; helping with Brownies, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Children's Wish Foundation and literacy programs; coaching sports; fighting fires, caring for the environment; organizing church picnics; and helping make their communities better places to live in countless other ways.

Volunteer work in this province has been valued at $1.1 billion a year. That's the equivalent of about 12 per cent of our provincial Gross Domestic Product. However, even though voluntary work contributes directly to our well-being as citizens and makes our communities strong, voluntary work is invisible in the economic growth statistics used to measure our progress and social well-being.

In Canada, residents of Newfoundland and Labrador are the second largest per capita contributors of formal and informal volunteer hours. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians 15 years of age and older contribute an average of three and one-quarter hours per week in voluntary work time, well above the Canadian average of approximately two and a half hours.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, our commitment to the Strategic Social Plan requires that the health of the voluntary sector and of community service in general be given top priority. Our volunteers are a precious resource, and their work is essential to our well-being as a people and as a province.

As a government we have done a number of things to honour and to strengthen the voluntary sector. First, as was announced in December of last year, the government allocated 
$100,000 to the Community Services Council to support a range of initiatives throughout 2001 to celebrate locally the many volunteers in our province.

Second, the government has also announced that a Volunteer Service Medal has been struck to officially salute our province's volunteers. 

Third, during this year the regional steering committees of the Strategic Social Plan will be organizing volunteer conferences in the Cormack-Grenfell and Eastern regions to help develop networks between the voluntary sector, develop volunteers' skills and to celebrate the contribution of volunteers. In the Central Region, a full-time volunteer coordinator has been hired to assist in developing a number of small forums which focus on developing the skills and addressing the needs of volunteers as well as recognizing the contribution of the voluntary sector and encouraging new people to become involved in their communities as volunteers.

As minister responsible for the Strategic Social Plan, I am pleased to have this opportunity to acknowledge and pay tribute to the contributions of volunteers and the voluntary sector that form such an important part of the social and economic fabric of our province. The Strategic Social Plan, itself, grew out of extensive consultations with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Many of the people consulted were volunteers, as are many of the people associated with the regional steering committees, and it is their vision for their own future and that of the province that the plan embodies.

That vision, is of "a healthy, educated, distinctive, self-reliant and prosperous people living in vibrant, supportive communities within sustainable regions." 

There is no single factor that makes a greater contribution to "vibrant, supportive communities" than the selfless work of volunteers. 

National Volunteer Week is an opportunity for all of us to acknowledge publicly the exceptional work of volunteers in Newfoundland and Labrador. As a volunteer, the job is not always easy, but I do know from personal experience how rewarding it can be.

Au nom du gouvernement de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador, je vous remercie de vos efforts soutenus pour am�liorer la qualit� de vie dans notre province. Nous vous sommes tr�s reconnaissants de la contribution inestimable que vous apportez dans nos vies, � tous et � toutes.

On behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, thank you for your untiring service to make our province a better place in which to live. We applaud your invaluable contributions to all of our lives.

2001 04 11                         2:30 p.m.