Yellowknife (Feb 18/04) - Volunteers want better support from the territorial government.

As part of the Canada Volunteerism Initiative, Volunteer NWT met last week with representatives of the GNWT.

Their main objective was to encourage more people to get involved in volunteering

"The other goal is to enhance the experience of volunteers," said Bill Graham, chair of Volunteer NWT. "There are a lot of people out there in the trenches, plugging away, who aren't being thanked by the organization."

He said Volunteer NWT received $99,000 from the federal government this year to go ahead with plans to develop a Web site as well as establish workshops and a tool kit, all necessary for providing information and resources on the topic.

Volunteer NWT was formed late last year by melding the efforts of a number of representatives from different organizations across the territory. Graham said there is currently no good statistical data to determine the state of volunteerism in the NWT, but his hunch is positive.

"My view is that people are very quick to help out here," he said. "I think people are very involved here."

Henry Zoe, the minister responsible for municipal and community affairs (MACA), committed to bringing the Volunteer Support Action Plan to cabinet for further review as a show of formal support.

The announcement comes at a time when MACA is in the process of reviewing nominations as part of the NWT Outstanding Volunteer Recognition Award Program.

Each year, MACA calls on nominations in order to recognize a youth, elder, individual and group who have demonstrated achievements and contributions through volunteering in communities across the NWT.

Brad Heath, communications advisor, said last year a total of 65 nominations poured in to the department. The year before there were 73.

They are starting to trickle in right now," he said. "We already have about a dozen or so."

This year's deadline for nominations is March 1.