Students Look Forward to Encounters with Canada

The Department of Education is providing $21,200 to help enable over 200 high school students from Newfoundland and Labrador to participate in the Encounters with Canada Forum in Ottawa this year.

“From September to May, about 3,000 students from across the country participate in the forum,” said the Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education. “Students spend a week in the nation’s capital, participating in activities that promote youth engagement, leadership, citizenship and the development of pride in being Canadian. The forum also helps our youth in making more informed choices about their future goals and careers.”

Encounters with Canada is the country’s largest national youth forum. The bilingual program gives young people aged 14 to 17 from different regions of the country the opportunity to travel to the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre in Ottawa to learn more about our country, our people, as well Federal Government institutions and national organizations.

Provincial funding helps pay for student accommodations, and touring activities around Ottawa. The program is also supported by various Federal Government departments and agencies, as well as through public and private sponsorships. The Provincial Government also provides substitute support to enable teachers to act as monitors.

“We are happy to continue to support a program that we believe enhances the curriculum in our schools, opens minds, inspires leadership, and presents new ideas and possibilities to young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,” said Minister Jackman. “I am confident the students who participate in Encounters with Canada will return home describing it as an unforgettable and rewarding experience.”

Over the past 31 years, over 93,000 young Canadians have participated in the Encounters with Canada Forum. For more information, visit: www.ewc-rdc.ca/. 

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Media contact:
Heather May
Director of Communications
Department of Education
709-729-0048, 697-5061
heathermay@gov.nl.ca 

2013 05 16                       11:05 a.m.