Community Services Council of Newfoundland

The Community Services Council of Newfoundland and Labrador was delighted to enter into a joint undertaking with Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), Newfoundland Region, to take advantage of the Policy Internships and Fellowships Program (PIAF). The program was designed to enable a federal employee to spend several months with a voluntary, community-based organization. One of the outcomes of the federal Voluntary Sector Initiative, PIAF presented a wonderful opportunity for a government agency and a non-profit organization to work cooperatively on a policy project of mutual interest and import. Our theme focused on a longstanding perception that the further one gets from the centre of Canada the more difficult it is to influence major policy directions. While this perception was much talked about, it was the Community Services Council’s objective to determine if the perception was founded and if so, to what extent. This was an ambitious undertaking which set out to address the level of influence and involvement in the policy- making process of “regions on the periphery”. Traditionally, the regions (both government and the voluntary, community-based sector) have been “consumers and recipients ” of policy. As well, we wanted to explore mechanisms to enable regions on the periphery to be more directly involved in shaping publi