(NC)—Whether it's sorting through canned goods at a food bank, devoting a weekend to help build a house with Habitat For Humanity, or giving tours at a local historical site, most people decide to volunteer in order to help make an impact on another person's life.

But according to a survey recently conducted by American Express Canada, a growing number of Canadians are choosing to engage in activities such as volunteerism and charity work in order to enrich and enhance their own lives. This group—which consists of more than a quarter of Canadians—are considered “potentialsts” and defined as people who choose to take less traditional paths in order to realize their own potential.
Read more...

Check out this video clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYoTJItSPt0

to see and american report about Canada that's been played along with the Olympic coverage.

Hello,
You are cordially invited to attend, in person or through your computer, a back-to-back series of presentations, workshops, and discussion forums taking place May 17-21, 2010 at the University of Alberta, Edmonton Alberta. Our agenda is attached.

This series is organized by a cross-Canada and international team of CIHR-funded researchers and healthcare providers. We would like to hear from you about your concerns, as well as programs or services; and share our completed research that addresses these concerns:
- the number of people who pass away each year is doubling, with advance planning needed for “good” deaths.
- most (80-90%) of the people who die today are advanced in age or have advanced end-stage illnesses, and their care and support needs differ from those who die suddenly at younger ages.
- a major shift of death and dying out of hospital has occurred without planning in Canada, leaving nursing homes and families with few resources to cope with greater palliative and end-of-life care roles.
- people living in rural and remote areas have unique needs and interests, and less access to specialized palliative care and other services that commonly exist now in urban areas.
Read more...

Le texte en français suit.
We are busy preparing for Spring!
This year’s theme is “Liberation”: The 2010 Edition of the Festival will commemorate the Canadian Navy’s Centennial and the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Holland by Canadian soldiers.
The Festival officially kicks off May 7th 2010 with a re-creation of the spontaneous Street Party that was held on Sparks Street Mall. On May 8th, in partnership with Veteran’s Affairs Canada, a ceremony honouring Canadian troops will take place at 11:00am at the War Memorial cenotaph on Elgin at Rideau and Wellington. Live bands, war memorabilia and fly-over will be part of the Celebration to carry on throughout the afternoon on the historic Sparks St. Mall.
Read more...

I't often said that the number of artists in a community is a good indication of it's quality of life. This interesting study give some insight into Ottawa's artist community.

Ottawa – More than one-third of Canada’s artists (53,500) live in five of the largest cities according to a report released today. Based on 2006 data, the report ranks Ottawa fifth for number of artists (4,600) behind Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Arts research firm Hill Strategies carried out the study, which identifies neighbourhoods with the largest concentration of artists and highlights their income and education against local labour force data.

In Ottawa, despite a slight decrease between 2001 and 2006, the report indicates the heaviest concentration of artists still lives centrally, with an increased number of artists beginning to settle into some suburban and rural neighbourhoods. Although Ottawa’s artists represent less than one per cent (0.9 per cent) of the local labour force, the numbers are slightly higher than the national and provincial averages (0.8 per cent).

Read more...