About Team Canada-MILSET

A continuing sponsorship from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to Youth Science Canada will help 44 students from Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan to participate on Team Canada-MILSET 2011, which will represent the country at the MILSET Expo- Sciences International (ESI) 2011 in Bratislava, Slovakia from July 18 to 24, 2011. Held every two years, this non-competitive event, which brings together young people from over 75 countries to exchange ideas and compare projects, aims to instil a culture of science by fostering networking and international collaboration.

The NWMO’s investment, together with funding from the Province of Ontario, The Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and others will allow Youth Science Canada to field a much larger Team Canada and to expand its participation. Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick will select students from their Canada-Wide Science Fair teams. Québec will select students at the Super Expo-sciences Bell, Québec Final.

"As an organization with a strong science and public engagement program, the NWMO is committed to intergenerational learning. We support youth efforts to advance scientific knowledge and help apply it in a way that matters to people," said Ken Nash, NWMO’s President and CEO.

Team Canada-MILSET 2007 participant Haley Robinson, who travelled to Durban, South Africa, knows the value of this rare opportunity. "I do not think anything can reproduce this first hand experience. The people I talked to, the sights I saw and the connections I made, have all contributed to my development."

Team Canada-MILSET 2009 traveled to Tunis, Tunisia (North Africa), where the delegation was recognized with MILSET's Enrique Padilla Award for best delegation - for the first time. The award is presented for project quality, team organization, spirit, and overall contribution to the Expo, which hosted nearly 1000 young scientists from around the world.

Based in Toronto, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization was established in 2002 by Ontario Power Generation Inc., Hydro-Québec and New Brunswick Power Corporation in accordance with the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to assume responsibility for the long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel.

Look for news about the team’s experience in Tunisia on the web site later this summer.