In a few days, the second contingent of Canadians supported by Canada Corps will head to Ukraine. Seven young Canadians with previous experience volunteering on information technology placements on a Canada World Youth (CWY) team in Eastern Europe will travel to Ostroh, Ukraine and work on projects developed by the Ostroh Academy.

Last December, the Ukrainian Ambassador, Yurii Mikolayevich Sherbak, gave a passionate send-off speech congratulating and thanking the 500 Canadians heading to Ukraine over the Christmas season as election observers. Canada had never sent a larger team of observers to oversee elections abroad and this contingent was the first initiative of the new Canada Corps.

At a meeting in Ottawa today between the Ukrainian ambassador and young participants of CWY program, the organization’s president, Matthew Pearce, said that with the support of the Canada Corps, CWY is in a position to continue the efforts made last December and to strengthen its partnership with Ukraine and Ostroh Academy. “The Ostroh Academy has been our partner for nine years. It will shortly become the first CWY partner to benefit from the Canada Corps initiative by hosting a contingent of young volunteers who will take part in a program designed to foster good governance through the use of information technology,” said Mr. Pearce.

“This international experience will allow me to further explore my Canadian identity as well as my global citizenship. I am honored to commit my time to working on promoting governance through intercultural diversity as is it will provide me with the necessary skills to launch my career,” said Shelley Solomon a young CWY participant in the program.