news // no. 4 Canada Student Service Grant » Deadline to apply is August 21 Atiba Nelson Staff Reporter OVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the employment prospects of many Canadians. One group that has been hit hard by employer’s inability to hire is students, as the pandemic cancelled internships and plummeted summer jobs. Many students typically use the income earned during the summer months to fund their education or living expenses, so the loss of summer income places some students in a precarious position. To mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, the Government of Canada created the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) to provide financial support to post-secondary students and recent high school and post-secondary graduates. Late in June the government announced another program to support Canadian students: the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG). The CSSG provides a monetary grant of $1,000 to $5,000 for hours spent volunteering. “Canadian students are looking for ways to make a real difference in their communities,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement announcing the grant. “With these new investments, we are giving them the support and connections they need to have a positive impact during COVID-19 and gain the skills needed for future success.” The newly instituted program has been recently mixed in a scandal including the government awarding a sole-source contract to the WE charity to administer the program. The charity withdrew from their appointed administrator role days later. The grant has not been officially cancelled. According to the grant website, an individual is eligible if they are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or have Refugee status, and are younger than 30 as of December 31, 2020. They also must be enrolled in and attending post-secondary education during the spring/summer or fall of 2020 or have graduated from a post-secondary Haida Gwalii 1s closed » BC government bans non-essential travel Lauren Gargiulo News Editor WwW 20 COVID-19 cases, 13 of them active, the BC provincial government has banned travel to Haida Gwaii. Ina statement released on July 30, the Council of the Haida Nation says it is “pleased that BC has aligned with our efforts to protect Haida citizens and citizens of Haida Gwaii by issuing an order to restrict non-essential travel to the islands.” -” joa kt le Haida Gwaii has been closed under Haida Gwaii law since March 23. Ina statement released on March 24, it was stated that “travel to and from communities on Haida Gwaii will be limited to essential services only.’ With a population of around 5,000 people, the island has been reported to have 12 hospital beds. As of July 30, there are 20 cases of COVID-19 on Haida Gwaii, 13 of them considered to be active. In BC, there are 29 new cases since July 29, with a total of 242 active cases. The British Bit: om WELL lotes ree institution no earlier than December 2019. The eligible individual would have to accumulate volunteer hours, to a maximum of 500 hours, between June 25 and October 31 of this year to receive the grant. The grant pays $1,000 per 100 volunteer hours and is capped at $5,000 or 500 hours. “People are more aware and want to get involved, because they see what’s going on around them,” said potential Canada Student Service Grant recipient Zoé Hould-Massicotte. “Situations like COVID-19 make us think about our place in society and who we are as individuals. Columbia Weekly COVID-19 Surveillance Report for July 24 to 30 says that “detections in BC have recently increased, but the risk remains low overall.” In a statement on their website, Northern Health said that every case is a “epidemiologically linked” case, which the BC Centre for Disease Control defines as “people who were never tested but were presumed to have COVID-19 because they developed symptoms and were close contacts of a laboratory confirmed case.” Chief Councillor of the Skidegate t i Photo by Karen Neoh theotherpress.ca We're realizing how important it is for us to get involved and how we can make a tangible difference in people's lives.” Band Council, William Yovanovich called the closing of Haida Gwaii a “reset button,” stating, “it will help our local efforts in controlling the outbreak of COVID-19.” While the Provincial Government's order is recent, requests for non-residents to stay off the island due to COVID-19 outbreak concerns have previously been publicly voiced by Haida Gwaii residents. A change. org petition created in July called for the end of “the blatant disrespect of the Haida Law.” Earlier this month, two fishing lodges reopened despite the state of emergency declared by Haida Gwaii law on March 23. One of the owners of these fishing lodges, The West Coast Fishing Club, has been critical of BC’s decision. Brian Legge thinks his business should have been exempt for several reasons. In an interview with CBC, he states that “we have 36 staff who were doing well, functioning well and are now unemployed.” Legge also said that his business had employed all the necessary safety precautions, that the club is isolated, and airlift could be utilized to take those who could be sick directly to the mainland. Donald Edgars, Chief Councillor of the Old Massett Village Council, commented that he thought that the decision to reopen the fishing lodges was “disrespectful.” On the current closing, he stated that the “leaders of Haida Gwaii have done all that we can to keep COVID-19 from coming to our communities. Our EOC and health teams have been preparing for this day,” he said. “I’m glad to hear BC has aligned with Haida Gwaii’s measures, and we are all working together on this pandemic response. Keeping our Elders and communities safe is our top priority during these difficult times.”