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Leah Davidson of Sherbrooke, Quebec and Mesgna Mesgna of Winnipeg, Manitoba are accredited Canadian delegates to the 12th Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF), to be held from June 21-22, 2021 convened by the Government of Rwanda, the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth Youth Council. Leah and Mesgna will also act as official delegates to the Commonwealth Youth Council General Assembly, where they will participate in the election of the Commonwealth Youth Council Executive, which will be held online in early May. Learn…

(Catherine Wang is the volunteer youth writer for the Royal Commonwealth Society Vancouver Island branch. This article first appeared in their October 2020 e-circular. Please visit their page to learn how to subscribe.) Hello everyone, and welcome to my “Commonwealth Corner”! My name is Catherine, and I live in the lovely city of Vancouver. I’m a student currently working towards completing my Gold Award in the Duke of Edinburgh Programme. As part of my award journey, I will be writing…

Our Vancouver Island branch (RCSVI) has partnered with youth leaders Aysha Emmerson and Jasper Johnston to support Dear Canada/Cher Canada, a new initiative designed to connect Canadians. Read more about this new initiative, as described by Jasper. Dear/Cher Canada is a national project developed by a team of youth aimed at connecting Canadians, across geographies and generations, bringing them into a single conversation. Our online platform enables people to create a digital “postcard” on which they can write a brief…

The winners of this years Commonwealth Youth Awards were announced on March 11th. Among the winners was Canada’s Sowmyan Jegatheesan, founder of Systema Naturae. Sowmyan chronicles his exposure to the Commonwealth and his win.

It’s with great sadness that we share with you that the NSCF community has lost a golden, shining star in Sir Charles Gunning. Charles will be known by many generations of NSCF delegates as the ‘father’ of NSCF. With other RCS Ottawa members, in 1973 he founded what is now known as the NSCF. For decades, until his health forced him to retire, he would organize, rally, convince and pull last-minute strings to help pull-off a successful NSCF year-after-year; support…

Excerpt from the April RCS Vancouver Island Circular: What does a President say after a most successful Commonwealth Day Luncheon on Monday, 9th March, and now finds himself located in the midst of a global pandemic when everyone is becoming self-designated “stay at homers”? He could say a number of things, but perhaps the most significant thing would be to acknowledge that life is in a grand transition, not only physically, but also, economically, socially, and even, ecologically. Perseverance and…

On February 16, 1916, Andrew Bonar Law, the British Colonial Secretary, formally asked the Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, if Canada would provide the manpower necessary to cut and process timber in England. By March 1, 1916, the Canadian Government had responded by creating the 224th Battalion, dedicated to harvesting and processing timber resources overseas. RCS Regional Chair Judith Elson tells us more about these unsung heroes of the First World War. Read more!

Nikolas Robert Shymko spent the month of February 2018 in India, volunteering with Venture2Impact, a Canadian organization founded to help communities break the cycle of poverty. The Royal Commonwealth Society Nova Scotia Branch was proud to support Nikolas with his campaign. A recent Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Economics graduate from Saint Mary’s University, Nikolas will be spending June and July volunteering in India with V2I before attending McGill University in September to begin the integrated B.C.L/LL.B law program. Nikolas…