Tag Archives: Youth

Prolonged Isolation Threatens Youth’s State Of Mind

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Outreach workers are running errands or dropping off milkshakes, to get face time with vulnerable kids trapped at home during the pandemic. Counsellors are conducting therapy sessions in parks to better gage a youth’s state of mind while still adhering to distancing protocols. Youth workers are doing what they can to reach isolated children and teens living in the North Island region of Vancouver Island, B.C., and support their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Developing Cortes Island Food Security

Representatives from two of the island’s better known organizations were asked to speak at the May 5, 2020, Cortes Island Virtual Community Meeting. Loni Taylor is one of the Directors of the Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA); Tamara McPhail is the Executive Director of Linnaea Farm. Director Anderson asked how their organizations are developing Cortes Island food security.

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Cortes Island’s First Virtual Town Hall Meeting

More people participated. At its peak, seventy listeners connected to the conference by computer or phone and an unknown number listened to the radio broadcast. Yet Cortes Island’s first virtual town hall meeting was essentially a continuation of the recent online conferences Regional Director Noba Anderson has been having with local businesses and organizations. 

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Organizing A Collective Response To COVID-19

At the first virtual Community Conference, Cortes Island organizations and businesses described their preparations for the impending COVID 19 pandemic. The process of reporting continued into the second conference, where callers also discussed off-island travel. At the third, on March 27, 2020, callers were divided into ten break out groups as Cortes organises a collective response to COVID -19. 

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Where Are We When Our Youth Need A Helping Hand?

The number of British Columbian participants in the Friday, November 29, 2019, Climate March was down, everywhere. 100,000 marched through the streets of Vancouver two months ago; A thousand took part in the mock funeral that ended with six arrests. A similar number blocked traffic in front of BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources in Victoria for half an hour. Only 200 people rallied in Courtenay’s Simms Millennium Park, before marching downtown. There were only dozens in Kelowna. Fifteen people – all but two of them students – took part in a Cortes Island event. This prompted the organizer to ask, “Where are we when our youth need a helping hand to carry the big load?”

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