Tiffany Stow

Line up our young men and women; capable, and with potential for growth. Like proud Northern Jackpine, row upon row, they are the harvest of these cold barren lands.

I'm at the high-end of what is considered youth. Wide-eyed at fourteen, I'd stood in the high school gym and explored the options presented to me as a student aiming for university. I attended the journalism programme at Ryerson Polytechnic University. Big dreams...CBC, Toronto Star... Kevin Newman of Global News was one of my teachers. Oddly enough, he chose that year to leave Canada to work for CNN. It was a tough choice for him, to leave home in hopes of realizing his career-aspirations.

My family moved to this area in 1984. I've had the chance to live from British Columbia to Newfoundland. This is the place I call home. And like Kevin Newman, one surmises, I too made a life-choice and came home.

A good job is hard to find, and life happens. I found myself soon enough as a mother. I earned an honest living working in a truck stop or two. If life was fair for a young, educated Northern parent, there were days when I thought, "I had dreams of a career". It's what a young fourteen-year-old was promised for going to university. I wondered how I would fare heading back down south, seeking out a job in a field I once knew. But my parents are here; it's a good place to raise children. They can inhale this sweet air, and see the stars....

I have every respect for the modern-day serving wenches and scullery maids who toil to maintain the tertiary tourism industry that brings so much to our Northern economy. But for those of us who are speaking on behalf of two generations, I sometimes question my choices.

I have come to know that you can try your best to succeed wherever you live, but when opportunities are few, youth out-migration is indeed the subject at hand. This is why so many of our cousins, neighbours and schoolmates are roofing in Ottawa, drilling in Alberta, nursing in the States, or teaching English in Asia.

You can read about it on 'the net': "According to Suthey Holler Associates update on Youth Out-Migration, the rate of out migration is high and increasing... in the last 5-year census period South Temiskaming lost 506 youth 20-29. It is predicted that the 2001-2005 the out-migration will climb to 1051." That's a grim prediction.

I've known many enterprising youth of this area, dreaming-up business plans that would make sense... if only there were some existing capital! They have explored grant and loan options designed to assist in Northern development. Age-related disqualifications, enduring student loan debt and access to resources are some of the common problems.

I believe it's particularly difficult for young parents to succeed. Noteworthy things contributing to this include the necessity for transportation in small rural communities, and access to round-the-clock childcare.

It is therefore important to examine restricted access to necessary resources in seeking employment or educational facilities. The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an "agency" of the Ministry of Culture. They are "a catalyst that enables Ontarians to work together to enhance the quality of life" in cooperation with "knowledgeable volunteers who understand the needs of local communities in their region..."

To address this limited access to resources in my area, the Ontario Trillium Foundation deemed in 2005 that the City of Temiskaming Shores was "eligible for $6,700 over six months to purchase more resource materials, create an interactive website and establish and deliver an outreach program to rural areas within the municipality, making library services more accessible to all members of the community."

Sadly, it's not merely the individuals that are financially deprived and taxed with the burden of divided attention, but these small Northern communities themselves.

You may read about initiatives to promote economic development from municipality to municipality. There exists the potential to generate business and create jobs. We must focus on gathering and harvesting the ideas of youth who have chosen to make the North their home, and develop unique strategies to cultivate industry. As Northerners, we must be diligent. I do hope to see the creation of jobs for my children, at least. It's not my experience alone that has inspired me to compose this.

I chose a life in Northern Ontario because I believed I could achieve a level of happiness richer in quality than one in a dirty, impersonal city. And whether 16 or 60, most would agree that happiness and love go together, and until they find it, are forever questing.

And if I told you I thanked my lucky stars for finding the man of my dreams in Northern Ontario, would your sense of humanity be intrigued?

He found himself drawn again to the area where he was raised, seeking employment befitting of his interests. We've been dating for a year, and so have yet to approach any serious conversation of a future together. It may be pending his sense of security here.

Currently he's tethered to a part-time casual position at a desirable venue that could eventually become more - which works when the bills aren't coming in.

Recently, he was interviewed locally by a prominent institution for full-time employment with room for promotion - out of area. It broke me.

"I'm not happy about having to leave the area - but if they offer me work... I need it." This is not just my story.