Aspiral Youth Partners Association

Aspiral Youth Partners is a Charitable organization located in Salmon Arm British Columbia and serving the Shuswap area. Our mission is to develop and sustain opportunities for youth to be positively connected within the community through active living, social interactions, and sharing space with adults. Aspiral Youth Partners Association is a not-for-profit charitable organization with a mandate to develop and sustain opportunities for youth to be positively connected within the community through active living, social interactions, and sharing space with adults and to operate a centre to the benefit of the community. Activities include operating a community centre that hosts hundreds of people per day in a wide array of activities ranging from participating in community radio, Air Cadets and after school programs to dog agility training, meditation groups and pipes and drums. We hold contracts to provide supports to youth at risk and employment skills training for youth.

Youth are the future of our community. Engaging youth in activities like paddling and rowing, swim teams and cross country ski programs in the Shuswap improves the attachment and success of young people.

To strengthen our involvement and participation in these and other related activities in the paddling community, Aspiral Youth formed a strategic partnership with Shuswap Association for Rowing and Paddling, a not-for-profit community organization. An exciting project we are involved in with both organizations is to undertake the restoration of the complete fleet of nine original wooden Chinese dragon boats from Expo 86 and six Taiwanese dragon boats that joined the collection at a later date.

Together we are hosting the Canada 150 Original Wooden Dragon Boat Festival which is a new event to be held between July 3 and July 16, 2017 on Shuswap Lake and in Canoe BC. The event will offer opportunities for multi-cultural participation and celebrate the historic significance of dragon boating in Canada and the complete restoration of the nine original Chinese wooden dragon boats. First Nations, Chinese and Taiwanese wooden boats will be celebrated during a family oriented festival offering ethnically themed foods, cultural entertainment, fine art and children’s programming together with exciting wooden boat races on the shores of Shuswap Lake in Canoe BC.