Volunteer earns spot on journey to celebrate Canada
Regina woman going on third leg of Canada C3 expedition from June 21-30
Bernadette Sokalski’s commitment to volunteering has made her a strong community leader. It’s also what landed her a oncein-a-lifetime experience.
Sokalski flies to Quebec City on Sunday. From there she will take a bus to port city Baie-Comeau, where she will join the Canada C3 expedition for its third leg.
Canada C3 was organized by the Students on Ice Foundation, whose mandate is to educate the world’s youth about the importance of Canada’s polar regions. The expedition will take 150 days to travel from Toronto to Victoria through the Northwest Passage and will explore the four themes of Canada 150 — diversity and inclusion, reconciliation, youth engagement and the environment. Organizers hope the trip will spark ideas about how to build a better Canada.
For Sokalski, she hopes the trip is a chance to engage with the youth who will be on the ship with her.
“I want to share with them how you can give back one hour a month and ... you will get rewarded beyond,” said Sokalski.
Now 55 years old, Sokalski started volunteering in her mid-20s and has been doing it ever since. She’s volunteered in soup kitchens and nursing homes, and even ran a half-marathon where she raised more than $4,000 for the Schizophrenia Society of Saskatchewan. In 2012 she started the Giving Back Team, where she works with youth to raise money for good causes like multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis research, Hope’s Home, Bikers Against Child Abuse and more. To date, they have raised over $13,000.
Sokalski shared her volunteer experiences in an essay and video as part of her application for the expedition.
“Sharing with all the ambassadors, my story about how you can give back,” Sokalski said about what she is looking forward to most.
The expedition is meant to celebrate Canada and connect people, said Canada C3 spokeswoman Felicity Feinman. She said reconciliation has already become a huge part of the journey.
“One of the most moving things for me was to see reconciliation in action, because I’m not sure that’s something I can say that I’ve really seen before in my life, in this way,” said Feinman, who participated in the first leg.
There were four indigenous people on the first leg with Feinman — one of them a youth ambassador from Akwesasne, Que. Feinman said he almost didn’t come on the trip for fear of leaving his community, where he was taught white people were the bad guys. By the end of the trip, after getting to know the non-indigenous participants, Feinman said he had a new perspective. Similarly, a nonindigenous man had come on the trip with misconceptions about indigenous people, but by the end of the leg, Feinman said he too walked away with a new perspective.
Sokalski is one of 11 people from Saskatchewan who were chosen for Canada C3. She said she is excited to meet new people and learn about Canadian history as her leg of the journey draws near. From June 21 to June 30, the expedition will travel down the St. Lawrence River all the way to Charlottetown, P.E.I. visiting important cultural and historical sites along the way.
The expedition, which started June 1 and will finish on Oct. 28, has 15 legs. For those unable to participate, there will be an interactive map exhibit at the Saskatchewan Science Centre starting in early July. There people will be able to see the route, learn about the science being done on the journey and do some Canadian trivia. individual that abuses the privilege of being a teacher. They’re the reason why the SPTRB exists.”
Before Gartner can return as a registered teacher, the board ruled he must complete a course at his own expense that includes at least one of the following areas: respectful behaviour with students, respect for professional boundaries and respect for a student’s personal space.
The course must be pre-approved by the SPTRB. The penalty was submitted to the board as a joint submission. The $10,000 fine must be paid by April 11, 2018 and represents roughly 50 per cent of the costs associated with the complaint investigation and hearing. mmodjeski@postmedia.com Twitter.com/MorganM_SP With Postmedia News files from Ashley Martin and StarPhoenix files from Andrea Hill
I want to share with them how you can give back one hour a month and ... you will get rewarded beyond.