Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 03/99) - If Peter Mathieson has his way, government and Yellowknife's volunteer sector will work more efficiently together in the future.

Mathieson, who is the senior policy advisor to the voluntary sector task force, visited Yellowknife for a couple of days earlier this week to follow up the federal government release of a document called "Working Together."

"No decisions have been made as to how much to invest, what to do and when to do it," Mathieson said of the long-term strategy to promote volunteerism.

"We're not sure on the figure (or how much money to spend) at all though there were commitments in the Speech from the Throne to develop a national accord and a few other things."

What Mathieson is sure of is that his visit will prompt more communication and dialogue between the federal government and the provinces and territories.

He has visited most of the provinces so far and is waiting to visit the Yukon and Nunavut.

"The federal government has responsibility for the regulation of charities so we could take a look at the reporting requirements that charities face on an annual basis," he said.

"Maybe we can shorten the reporting forms and take a look at the administrative procedures and simplify those."

He said the federal government could improve the level of service that charities get from Revenue Canada when they try to figure out how to apply for charitable status or when they try to figure out how to comply with reporting requirements.

"There are many mechanisms by which federal government departments can provide assistance," he said.

Roslyn Smith, who is the senior advisor of volunteer development with the GNWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said her focus will shift in the next year.

"We've had programs that recognize volunteers but we haven't done a lot around encouraging volunteering which I think will be a major focus in the next year," she said.

Smith said the department knows which demographic groups volunteer more than other groups thanks to the recent release of the labour market survey.

As such, it will target initiatives to try to increase volunteerism in the groups that volunteer less.

People in their 40s and older people volunteer more, as do those in higher income brackets.