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Increased cooperation on indigenous issues

16 April 2012

Santiago, Chile

The Government of Canada is committed to promoting the development of indigenous communities. To this end, on April 16, 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Canada’s contribution to the Wekimun Rural Training Centre, which will provide young people in Chiloé, Chile, with the valuable training they need to gain employment and life skills. The announcement was made during his visit to

Chile

Canadian support – in the amount of $3.8 million over 5 years, funded through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)’s Partners for Development program – will involve training as many as 200 indigenous youth and young adults aged between 15 and 44, from the poorest communities of Chiloé so that they may:

Establish healthy, sustainable, and dignified livelihoods;
Contribute productively to local governance and community development;
Improve local agriculture; and
Re-establish their confidence and pride in indigenous identity and traditional knowledge.

In addition to providing youth and young adults with skills in resource management and business development, the project will equip the Centre with lasting and effective training infrastructure and programming. More than 200 families will also benefit from seed livestock banks as a result of the project.

Implemented by the University of Prince Edward Island, the Wekimun Rural Training Centre project is one of 17 projects that Canadian universities will be executing in 17 countries throughout the world. These initiatives were selected through the Call for Proposals to Canadian universities, issued by CIDA in June, 2011.

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