This week we heard from Natasha Larson, a senior student from WP Wagner High School and co- President of the Rotary Interac Club at WP Wagner. Natasha told us that due to COVID restrictions this year, the one week event hosted by the Rotary Club of Ottawa was a virtual event. The week included many different speakers, many of whom were previous Rotary AIC program participants, on all kinds of topics related to Citizenship. She said that prior to the event she received a package which included a T-shirt, pin and mug. The event topics included two days with various speakers on Canadian government, one day on Indigenous issues, one day on Citizenship and one day on a variety of topics. They were also given a choice of several topics for one talk, and the topic she chose was climate change.
Some of the government speakers and topics covered were the Right Honourable Joe Clark talking about how Rotary fit into his life, Senator Joe Day speaking about the role of the Senate, former Prime Minister Paul Martin talking about his role on government, past Speaker of the House of Commons, who talked his role in government, and a past Page in the House of Commons, talking about her duties in the House of Commons. Natasha said that one of the sessions she enjoyed the most was the chance to get to know a war veteran who spoke about her experiences, and the discussion session that followed. The fourth day was focused on Indigenous issues and the final day was focused on Citizenship, including a citizenship judge who spoke about how she came into her job and what it involved. Overall, they were given a lot to think about when considering career options for the future. Natasha said that politics, legislation and parliament were things that she had never really considered as a career and the week learning more about them as very enlightening. She thanked us for the opportunity to take part in this program and said that she had made some new friends across Canada in Rotary as a result.