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Adam MacIsaac's  Blog
Adam MacIsaac's Blog
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Yet Another Delegation, Joining the Ship For World Youth 21 Canadian Delegation
Related to country: Japan

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

With great excitement I will be joining the Canadian delegation on the Ship for World Youth 21 program, which will include traveling to Japan and sailing to Vanuatu, Tonga, and New Zealand from January - March 2009. The Ship for World Youth program started almot fifty years ago in 1959 when the international youth exchange program of the Cabinet Office launched the "Japanese Youth Gooodwill Mission Program" with the purpose of broadening the global view of Japanese youth and to promote mutual understanding between Japanese and foreign youth as well as to cultivate the spirit of international cooperation and the competence to pratice it and to allow the participating youth with capability of showing leadership in various areas of international society.



The itinerary of the 21st Ship for World Youth program 2009 is as follows:

January 14th, 2009 - Arrival of the participants from overseas

January 15th − 22nd - Program for overseas participants in Japan

January 23rd - Departure from Yokohama Port (Japan)

February 2nd - Refuel, food and water supply in Vanuatu

February 5th − 7th - Port of call activities in Tonga (Nuku'alofa)

February 11th − 14th - Port of call activities in New Zealand (Auckland)

February 19th - 20th - Refuel, food and water supply in Vanuatu

March 5 - Return back to Tokyo (Japan)



Participating countries for SWY21 are:

Canada
Arab Republic of Egypt
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Japan
Republic of Mauritius
New Zealand
Kingdom of Norway
Republic of Peru
Kingdom of Tonga
United Arab Emirates
Republic of Vanuatu
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Republic of Yemen

September 25, 2008 | 9:47 AM Comments  0 comments



Joining the Canadian Youth Delegation to Poznan, Poland.
Related to country: Poland

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

In Decemeber I will be joining along with 30 other highly involved Canadian youth to form the Canadian Youth Delegation and attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which this year is the 14th Conference of Parties (COP-14). So far there have been some conference calls where those who are joining the delegation got to connect with delegate new and old and start the ball rolling on what we as young Canadians want to focus on during COP-14. This is a very important step in the process of having post-Kyoto reductions of carbon emissions which will be decided in Copenhagen during the December 2009 COP-15, and also that the current Canadian stance is to invest into tar sands development without looking at the effects that this is having on the environment. While I myself have yet to see any major turn in Canadian citizen views, there is hope with the upcoming federal election that voters will show just like recently in Australia that political parties who are not serious on taking action to reduce the impacts of climate change have no place to be the leaders of out societies.

September 25, 2008 | 9:46 AM Comments  0 comments

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Ottawa pulls $100,000 from B.C. Sierra Club's climate-change initiative
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

FIONA MORROW

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

September 2, 2008 at 4:38 AM EDT

VANCOUVER — Environment Canada has terminated a funding contract to the B.C. chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada, causing the possible closing of a climate-change program initiative.

Pat Dolan, executive director of Environment Canada's outreach and biodiversity priorities division, telephoned the environmental non-profit group last week to say that the $100,000 funding contract, signed May 16, was terminated.

The grant had been approved through the EcoAction Community Funding program, a federal initiative created by the Chrétien government in 1995 and supported by subsequent administrations.

"I was informed that our application had been reviewed - after the signing of our contribution agreement - against the priorities of the program, that sometimes adjustments in priorities occur, and that as a result of that review our funding was terminated," said Jenn Hoffman, development director of Sierra Club B.C. "I was told that we are not the only organization being impacted."

The money had been targeted for the Sierra Club's new House Cooling initiative, in which groups of workers, neighbours or others gather in one member's house to discuss climate change and how they, as individuals or as a group, can reduce their carbon footprint.

Sierra Club B.C. supplies materials that give information about the practical steps people can take to reduce household greenhouse-gas emissions. At the end of the gathering, guests are invited to form their own Carbon Emission Reduction Club that will meet regularly so people can support each other in their greening efforts.

Sierra Club B.C. executive director Kathryn Molloy said she was outraged by the decision to cancel funding.

"I would like clarity as to why the program has been terminated," she said. "I was told this was the best proposal EcoAction had ever seen. This issue of climate change and empowering people to make decisions to reduce their own impact and to educate them on these issues - it has never been more salient.

"It has never been more prudent for the government to be supporting this kind of work and we've never had this level of interest. In my view, right before an election, this is voter suicide on their part."

Asked for a response, Environment Canada said in an e-mailed statement: "The department regularly reviews all of its grants and contribution funding projects to ensure that taxpayers' dollars are respected. The Department is informing project proponents on the results of the annual review. As per the terms of agreements, payments will be issued where money is owing for work already done. Any money freed up will be redirected to other programs and services to help protect our environment."

An Environment Canada spokesman did confirm that Environment Minister John Baird is sometimes involved personally in the application review process. He could not confirm which, if any, other organizations might be affected, nor which specific issues had caused Sierra Club's application to suddenly be deemed ineligible.

Special to The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080902.wbcgreen02/BNStory/National/

September 2, 2008 | 12:56 PM Comments  0 comments



4 Buses and One Plane To Arrive At The World Youth Congress 2008
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

So I finally arrived at the 4th World Youth Congress which is taking place in Quebec City, Quebec Canada on August 10th in the early hours of the morning. I had started my journey at 10am from the small town in England where I was living and took the public transit bus to the Stansted airport where I then took a National Express bus to the Heathrow airport. The traffice was slow due to the time of day and it would be a general summary of the over all trip to Canada but once I arrived at Heathrow things went smoothly checking in all the camera equipment that I would be using to bring the congress to youth who are interested but could not attend though the World Youth Congress YouTube Channel. The flight across the Atlantic was long but it allowed me to catch up on some applications and scholarships that I was getting close on the deadline to but I was glad to have finally arried back in Canada. The trip trough Canadian customs was quick and painless and I was soon on my third bus from the Montreal airport to the downtown bus station where I would cathc my final bus to Quebec City. When I finally arrived to Quebec City it was 1am Eastern and I was looking forward to getting rid of my luggage and getting to sleep in a bed but that was not to be the case. With things not being to organized I had arrived to Laval University with no where to check into a room, while I knew the othe Peace Child International staff who had flown two days prior were somewhere on campus without any contact information it would have to be a combination of sleeping on a chair and some times leaning on a table to get some sleep until 7am when I was hoping to finally made the end of my journey finished by checking into a room. I did get to see a former Peace Child intern, Annas who I had breakfast with him and his wife Claire which was a not to bad way to wrap up a very long journey to the congress. With all of my recent work on an UNDP Youth Climate Change Project will the emissions from my travel be worth me attending the congress? I will find out in the upcoming days.