2025 could be a busy year for young people in Burk’s Falls.
Several Burk’s Falls residents, including parents, have created a youth centre proposal designed for 12- to 18-year-olds.
Barry Burton of nearby Ryerson Township proposed the concept at the Burk’s Falls Dec. 17 meeting and received positive responses.
According to the 2021 census, 20 per cent of Burk’s Falls population was made up of people under 20, and Burton says that the youth population has increased since that time.
Burton adds that according to a Government of Canada State of Youth Report from 2021, many young people face issues like cyber bullying, social exclusion and mental health challenges.
He adds the “numbers are staggering” because we have 53 per cent of young people aged 15 to 18 who struggle with depression and mental health.
“And suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in Canada,” Burton told town council.
The proposed Burk’s Falls Youth Centre would be drug-free and bully-free and provide a safe environment.
Burton says with the help from guest speakers and instructors, the centre would provide guidance and mentorship and leadership skills and explain the dangers of substance abuse.
At the same time, the young people would be exposed to various programs, including the arts, music and technology, and learn the value of cooking one’s own meals.
Burton is no stranger to helping to start a youth centre.
In 2014, he was the deputy mayor of Clearview Township near Barrie, which includes the rural community of Stayner.
Burton told Almaguin News Stayner “is very similar to Burk’s Falls” and there wasn’t much for young people to do.
During an all-candidates debate in 2014, the people running for town council were asked by young people what their plan was for the youth of the township.
Once elected, Burton and council set out to create the Stayner Youth Centre and raised $100,000 in three months, including $20,000 from the United Way, in addition to corporate grants and money from all three government levels.
“We started with 12 young people coming in on a regular basis five days a week and now there are more than 200 youth who are part of the centre,” Burton said.
Burton left Clearview Township two years ago for Ryerson Township in the Almaguin Highlands.
He was at a local historical society meeting in 2023 when people began talking about the lack of things for young people to do.
Burton told the group he could help thanks to his recent experience in Stayner.
During 2023 and into 2024, parents and adults interested in ensuring young people have things to do began meeting, and the ad hoc group was formed.
One of those parents who is part of the group is Mary Thomson, who has 10- and 12-year-old boys and also lives in Ryerson.
“They’re excited,” Thomson said about her boys’ reaction upon learning there might soon be a youth centre in Burk’s Falls.
“There are no hubs for them. They can just go to their friends’ homes.”
Thomson understands what her sons experience because she grew up in Burk’s Falls and also faced the age-old question of what to do in a small, rural community.
“It could be boring and you would get into trouble,” Thomson said, adding she wasn’t one of the trouble makers.
Corinne Penstone is a Burk’s Falls mother with twin 12-year-old boys and a seven-year-old daughter.
Penstone says one thing the group wants to do is go into the schools and ask the students themselves what they need.
“We want to involve them in this,” Penstone said.
“My boys are pumped that we care about what they want.”
Penstone adds that assuming the youth centre becomes reality, the committee would like to see some of the students become volunteers and act as the bridge between the committee and the young people at the centre.
Burton says the local group has created a $93,030 budget, with $18,000 of that paying for rent and a further $43,680 covering the salary of a youth engagement co-ordinator.Volunteers would help the co-ordinator.
The group has looked at three sites in downtown Burk’s Falls, but has made no commitments.
Burton doesn’t find the task of raising close to $100,000 daunting.“I have experience getting this kind of thing off the ground,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but we have a great committee that is ready to go.”
Burton says $3,200 is already in place “and we haven’t even started yet.”
Burton says there are federal, provincial and corporate grants available, and one simply has to know how to go about accessing those funds.
What he and the committee are requesting of the council is that the youth centre group become a committee of council.
“This opens the doors to municipal resources for us,” he said.
Burton said the committee could apply to become a non-profit organization, but the paperwork to launch and maintain that status eats up money that could be applied to the youth centre.
As a committee of council, Burton explained, the mechanism already exists for the municipality to provide donation receipts to people and businesses who contribute to the centre.
During the school year, the centre would operate weekdays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Burton says a different format would be needed if the facility is also open on weekends and during the summers.
Burton says the group has been asked to draw up terms of reference for council’s consideration and formally elect officers as council members discuss his request for the group to become a committee of council.
Burton says he’s optimistic that council will agree to the request, and that word of that agreement could come early in the new year.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
