Hangin' with the 'Outflow'

Alessandra Cross is 11 years old. She loves the forest, the beaches, the eagles, and all the other wild bounty of her home in a tiny village in the isolated islands of Haida Gwaii. But no matter how much she enjoys picking berries and playing in driftwood logs by the ocean, there is no question in her mind about whether she'll leave - only when.

Alessandra wants to be a forensic scientist, like on Crime Scene Investigation, and that's not going to happen in Skidegate.

"I'll definitely visit, but won't live here because there aren't that many jobs," she says. At least none that will satisfy the ambitions of a young girl who also wants to "travel the world" and "go somewhere different."

Charming prison

To an urban youth, the rural areas of British Columbia can seem pretty darn dull. What may be quiet and quaint about a tiny island community to an adult, can be prison to a style-hungry youth.

That's why some rural youth plot to leave as soon as they can. They crave better jobs, education, or excitement of the city,

Researchers at Statistics Canada call these kids the "outflow." They say some communities call the kids that too.

But while shopping malls and TV drama show type jobs may be the initial drawing card, some youth have deeper reasons for wanting to go.

Joby Wilson has wanted out ever since her older brothers left for school in the city four years ago. Twelve-year-old Wilson grew up in the village of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii/ Queen Charlotte Islands. With a population of 700, give or take, she knows just about everyone in town, and they know her.

Rural dangers?

Wilson wants to be a basketball player and although she says where she lives is okay, her eyes take on a more serious tone when she states that she can do better.

"There are more positive things out there for me. I'm not dissing this place but I don't want to get into drugs," she says.

Ironically, this is the most compelling reason for teens to leave their quiet rural homes - more trouble awaits them on the gentle shores of Haida Gwaii, than in the city.

"Its easier to get into trouble in a small place. There is lots of peer pressure, and a lot of pot and alcohol," says Cassandra Cross, age 13, whose family moved back to the village after living in Vancouver and then Montreal. She says she never got into trouble in the city.

Independence in numbers

She's another future "outflow." Cross dreams of being a psychiatrist or some other helping professional, but for now she'd just like the rocks to be swept off the roads in her town, so she do some serious rollerblading.

Rollerblading is one of the reasons she prefers the city, and the others are all about recreation too. She misses the pools, the ice-skating, the hockey, and the tennis courts. When she's rich, Cross says, she'll come back to visit and make sure there is something, other than a bowling alley, for youth to do here. She suggests an arcade.

Most teens, rural or urban, yearn to strike out on their own as they get older, but those from the city can get on the subway, find an apartment and be far enough away from their parents to feel independent.

When you live in a rural area, especially on this island in the north, the costs of independence and anonymity include plane fare and major commitment.

'Return Migrants'

In 2000, Statistics Canada released a report entitled "Rural Youth: Stayers, Leavers and Return Migrants" that studied the trends affecting rural areas across the country.

"There is a sense that most rural communities offer few opportunities for their younger people, requiring them to leave for urban communities, most likely not to return," states the preamble to the findings.

According to the report, in virtually all provinces young people 15 to 19 years of age are leaving rural areas in greater proportions than urban areas. And in general, only 25 per cent of these youth return to rural communities after ten years.

No fear

Rural policy makers and community leaders are scrambling to find solutions to the outflow problem.

"When I first started thinking about the issue, it was from a place of fear," says youth critic and MP for the Skeena Bulkley Valley Nathan Cullen.

"It was, 'we've got to keep these people, we've got to do these things' and there was a slight panic in my approach."

Since then, he has discovered that working to create a community with high quality of life and good opportunities is a better way to go.

He has set out to shift the perception that the city is the place for limitless opportunity while the rural areas are a place of restriction.

Risk appeal

"It is about risk, to my mind. We must encourage risk taking" among youth, he says.

To this end Cullen, age 32, has put up $5,000 of his personal funds and raised $10,000 more from credit unions and community futures organizations, to offer the first Youth Entrepreneur awards in his riding.

These awards, which will be presented starting in September 2005, will support young business people with existing or evolving northwest ventures. Cullen says although the awards offer real cash value to youth, there is a certain symbolism inherent in the burgeoning program.

"The message is: as a young person we are seeking to support you in some of the things you want to do," he says.

Discover home

This support is exactly what Murphy Patrick, a 27 year-old leader from the Lake Babine Nation, says is lacking in many small communities. He became an "outflow" statistic several years ago when he left his community of 500, near Burns Lake, because there was little opportunity or support for him there.

It wasn't until, at 16 years-old, he participated in a local Rediscovery Program which teaches outdoor skills, cultural practices and leadership skills to indigenous youth, that he realized what he might be missing out in the world at large. "It wasn't even on my mind. I just knew I lived in a small community," he says.

Now he studies acting and film special effects in Toronto, travels internationally, works with different organizations like the United Nations and is constantly "putting himself out there," he says.

Boiling points

But he's only a quasi-outflow. He returns to his community every summer to run the Boiling Point Rediscovery program, which this summer will include Canoe Quest 2005, a journey by large traditional canoes from Prince Rupert to Bella Coola, as well as a Salmon Nation Youth Summit.

The Rediscovery program gives young people on reserve hope, he says. Murphy doesn't like to think of what his life would be if he had never gotten involved.

"Not a lot of young people leave the Rez. Or they go and come back. Living in the city and on their own is a challenge, and it's a hard one to fulfill," he says.

For some, remaining in their home communities is seen as a failure, for others it is an economic necessity, but he wants to encourage youth to see beyond the walls of the reserve.

Opt-out

"There is so much opportunity out there, even on the reserve, but it is not supported or fulfilled in any way by community leaders," he says. Even the Rediscovery program is struggling due to shifting priorities in the management of his band.

Eventually, Murphy wants to come back and develop a more long-term program for youth in his community. "There is a great need especially in the north, for a foundation for kids to fall back on," he says.

Providing a foundation is important, but many want to leave anyway. According to the Statistics Canada report, four out of ten youth who could have the job they desire in their community, will leave for an urban centre anyway.

Draw back

Cullen says the most important thing for rural policy makers and leaders to think about is how to create a community that draws people to it.

"We need to act with confidence and know young people need to go away to further their education or have world experiences," he says. They may bring that experience back, but only if they see the rural environment as a positive option.

Meanwhile, back on Haida Gwaii/ Queen Charlotte Islands, with a population of less than 5,000, some teens already see the benefits of living in a small place.

Cousins Jaana and Tina Moody like the freedom of their small community.

"You are free to run around and do whatever you want," they say.

Non-outflow

Others talk positively about how everyone knows each other so well and how important family is. For some, the lack of crowds is a plus and one girl likes her town because she doesn't have to walk as far as she does in the city.

Chrissie Oakley, a 14 year-old who just moved to Queen Charlotte City with her parents from Squamish, says she prefers small towns and doesn't plan on going anywhere.

"We're country people, we really like it here," she says of her family.

She's been to the big city and that was enough to convince her that it isn't her style. Oakley wants to be an interior decorator or, work helping people, and she's pretty sure she can do either in the quiet, smallness of her new hometown.

What's the Tyee word of the week? It's the word that defines a sub-culture. Each week this summer, the Tyee explores contemporary BC.

Have an idea for a word? Send it to editor@thetyee. ca with the subject "my word of the week."

Heather Ramsay, based in Queen Charlotte City, is a Tyee contributing editor.