PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, July 9, 2012 – This summer a unique event in Canadian history hopes to capture the imagination of the country and bring awareness and support to reverse the termination of federal government funding for the Katimavik program. Crossing Canada for Katimavik is a national relay to carry a package containing a green Katimavik T-Shirt, a Journal, a Map of Canada and petition sheets to Ottawa.  Two groups of volunteers, called Voyageurs, will commence inIqaluit, Nunavut with one branch heading east to Goose Bay Labrador and the other heading west to Whitehorse Yukon.  The Voyageurs will make their way back to Ottawa through a total of 50 Katimavik host communities crossing Canada by foot, bicycle, boat, car, plane and any other means available to them.  As each Voyageur passes the package on to the next they will engage Canadians to sign the petition and write in the journal about the terrible loss of Katimavik.  Each voyageur will also sign the shirt to show their contribution to the successful outcome of this event.  In Ottawa the two shirts and journals will be offered to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages who will become honorary Katimavik alumni upon acceptance.

Katimavik is a 35 year old national institution through which 30,000 young adults provided full time volunteer service to their country while learning about Canada and themselves. 50 communities and over 500 not for-for-profit organizations in every province and territory of the land annually receive 600,000 hours of work. This program benefits ALL Canadians.  The 2012 Federal budget terminated all funding for Katimavik. This funding cut resulted in cancelling plans for 600 youth to provide service to their country and leaving hundreds of not-for-profits without valuable volunteers for the remainder of 2012.

We welcome all Canadians of all political affiliations and regions to participate in this non-partisan event to support the ideals of Katimavik of working as a team for the betterment of ourselves, our community and our country.  Help us cross the country by registering at http://katimacan.com/register/!

We also reach out to all communities and not-for-profit partners across the country to welcome and support this initiative. Within each community we want to encourage dialog between the residing MP and organizations in the community who have been affected by this cut.

The Saving Katimavik Alumni Committee is an informal association of Katimavik Alumni and supporters. They are not associated with Katimavik-OPCAN Corporation.

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Contact:

Attached please find the planned relay schedule. This schedule will be subject to change.