On Monday night, Trail council proclaimed June 1 as “Intergenerational Day Canada” in the City of Trail.
The day is meant to encourage young and old to say hello and get to know each other better.
Trail joined 88 Canadian cities to participate in the celebration of the project’s fourth year.
“This is a call to action,” said founder Sharon MacKenzie in an email to the Trail Times.
“And it has been really difficult up until now.
“But no doubt there is at least one person who is or has done something intergenerational this year in your community, and it is time to celebrate that.”
The idea of intergenerational day first began with MacKenzie, a B.C. teacher originally from Vernon,
when she was working on a world elder abuse awareness project with her students.
“The kids realized that the best way to stop ageism and mistreatment of people of any age, was to prevent it,” she explained in a press release.
She said that a special national day might be the key to encourage building relationships between younger and older people.
June 1 was chosen as that day because of its close proximity to UN World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (June 15).
“We are providing a focus day, time, and place for Canadians to share and to find out how to get their own projects started.”
“Next year it is our hope that there will be spokespeople in all of these communities and provinces with many great stories to share,” said MacKenzie.