Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 12/99) - They came, they saw, and yes, they conquered.

After two years of sending youth groups to Yellowknife, the Canada-wide volunteer youth program, Katimavik, will be moving on.

The last group of eight are going home in June. Katimavik has brought more than 50 youth volunteers to Yellowknife, aged 17-21, who have contributed to numerous voluntary agencies here.

"I would call the participants ambassadors of Canadian youth," project leader Andrea Sterzuk said.

"When you see a group of young people take a year out of their lives to volunteer outside of their communities, that has an impact on the perception society has of youth."

Each participant must volunteer 40 hours a week. They travel to three different communities and stay for up to three months in each. They get room and board, but receive only $21 a week in allowance.

On paper, it doesn't sound like much of a deal, but youth are lined up to join the program.

"Participants aren't going to get careers out of Katimavik, but they get the skills they need to do what they want with their futures," Sterzuk said.

"Each of the participants I've worked with have lost the apathy that is evident in many of our youth and replaced that with a sense of adventure. It shows there's more to youth than meets the eye. This program creates strong citizens."

The Salvation Army, Abe Miller Centre, Youth Volunteer Corp, and most of the Yellowknife francophone schools and cultural centres have enjoyed the services of Katimavik youth.

For volunteer Claudine Mathieu, who is from Quebec City, seeing the northern lights was a definite highlight. As she prepares to go home, she reflects on what she learned from being here.

"I feel I've changed within myself. I know my faults and I'm trying to work those out," Mathieu said.

"The community was so nice. In Quebec, it's not like that. I was surprised at first that people would say hello to me on the street, even though they didn't know me. After awhile, I just got used to it."

For Mathieu Goulet, who is from a small Quebec town called Rouyn-Noranda, Old Town was "pretty cool."

While here, he lived with the rest of the group in a rented house. That, he said, was just another part of the experience.

"Living in a different community as a group helped me develop patience, and helped me have an open mind to understand the problems and emotions of the rest of the group," Goulet said.

"All your life you're going to be in a group, whether it's a job or family, so these are the skills you're going to need to deal with life."

The Katimavik program rotates destinations, which is why Yellowknife is not on the agenda for next year. Goulet said he might come back on his own, though.

"I like Yellowknife, but now I want to go farther North and really experience the Arctic," he said.