'A light in La Loche;' program could be reinstated after shooting

A once successful program aimed at youth in La Loche, Sask., could once again receive money from Ottawa after funding was cut from it last year.

The federal minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, learned about Project Venture during a visit to La Loche this week. She visited the northern Saskatchewan town in the wake of tragic shootings last month.

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"We went to follow up because, as you know, there was a concern once the cameras left, once the prime minister left, that nothing had happened," Bennett told CBC News.

"We felt very strongly that we would go back to the community shortly thereafter and begin to get to work on finding the solutions and finding how we, as a federal government, can best contribute."

On Jan. 22, two people — a teacher and an educational assistant — were killed, and seven people were wounded at the local high school after a 17-year-old boy allegedly entered the school with a gun.

The bodies of two teenage boys were found at a home in the village.

Bennett said that during her visit, she asked people about programs which could help the community, specifically the youth.

She said Project Venture, an outdoors experiential youth development program designed for high-risk aboriginal youth, came up.

"In asking about some of the things, Project Venture, that had once been there as an on-the-land program — hugely successful — but had been cut during the last government, and the crime prevention dollars had been removed," Bennett said.

"Obviously that's something that I'm very interested in getting back going again. In speaking with my colleague [Minister of Public Safety] Ralph Goodale, we hope that, again, that's something that could be up and running again very quickly."

She said the program was important for kids to secure a personal cultural identity and feel good about themselves and their heritage.

Project came to a close last September

Farris Lemaigre was a youth worker with the program, starting in 2011. She said it delivered year-round activities for kids between Grade 6 and Grade 8.

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​​"Project Venture was a light in La Loche, and everybody was seeing how bright it was. It started slowly dimming," she said. "Reigniting the light would help the community."

According to a Public Safety Canada website, the project was funded with $976,000 over three years and five months. Lemaigre said that in 2014 the project found out the funding was going to be cut; they received a few six-month extensions and looked for local funding.

The Project Venture Facebook page states the program came to a close on Sept. 30, 2015.

Lemaigre said the loss was felt throughout the community.

"This was a good relationship builder for the community between the elders, the youth, the parents," she said. "It was something that was bringing the community closer and closer together."

The Public Safety Canada website said it expected the program to impact over 300 children and youth, and Lemaigre said it likely impacted even more.

"The way people interact with each other, it wasn't just a program that kids had to go to. They wanted to go to it, they wanted to hang out with the project, they wanted to go to the summer camps," she said.

"It was something they really enjoyed."