going through a nomination process, someone who knew McCann from his involvement with 4-H throughout his life asked him if he was interested. “It’s something that I’ve been interested in wanting to do for a long time. And so I jumped at the chance whenever they asked if I wanted to do it,” said McCann.

According to McCann, two other directors joined the board at the same time that he did. The directors are from all over the country and from many different walks of life, which allows for different perspectives when examining new strategies and how to improve the organization.

Unlike several other organizations, 4-H has been lucky as covid has not forced them to close down. McCann explains that because of this, he now hopes to improve past the point that they were prior to the pandemic.

“It’s about making sure 4-H is able to not only get through it, but now grow and succeed and get better” he said.

McCann is kept quite busy, during the day he works as managing director of Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, is on the Shawville Fair Board and farms. However McCann notes the major role that the organization had in his life, so he is more than happy to make time.

“I would not be here today without it. It let me see all over Quebec, I got to travel across the country. I met my wife through it. My first kind of job out of school was working for the federal agricultural minister. I got that job largely because of the 4-H experience that I had,” said McCann.

McCann explained that 4-H follows the model “learn to do by doing” which he says teaches members confidence and gives them hands-on experience with their projects from start to finish. He also pointed out that Quebec 4-H is unique as it allows the youth members to not only have hands-on experience with their personal projects but also on the board. He thinks that it is important that they are responsible for decision making.

“I think you need to let people see how much young people can do. I think young people today have a bad rap. But I don’t know, I get to see a lot of great ones in 4-H. And we need to promote them and encourage them the most we can,” said McCann.

All information about joining the Shawville 4-H club can be found on their Facebook page.

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