It’s the million-dollar question in both rural and urban circles these days - how do we stop our young people from leaving the province?

After all, it’s causing problems galore. Our province’s population has been in a state of steady and constant decline over the last decade. The ‘help wanted’ signs in storefront windows are multiplying at a seemingly exponential rate. And, more and more parents are watching the tail lights of their children’s vehicles drive into the western sunset - a sunset perched so invitingly over Alberta.

According to statistics Canada, Saskatchewan’s population in the last decade dropped from 1,019,100 in 1996 to 985,386 as of July 1, 2006. And if you want to get even more specific, Saskatchewan’s population decreased by 4,571 people in the last year: 2,225 of which were males and 2,346 of which were females. Furthermore, it is the workforce-aged residents who appear to be leaving our fine province in droves. Last year we lost 6,568 Saskat-chewanians aged 19 - 64 to out-migration, while the numbers drop to only 575 for seniors leaving and 1,930 for those 18 and under going out of province.

A National Graduates Survey conducted on the class of 2000 found that 24 per cent of young people with university degrees and technical institute certificates/diplomas (earned in Saskatchewan) end up out of the province. And not surprisingly, 56 per cent of them go to Alberta.

So, what’s the solution?

Some have said we need to create more job opportunities in Saskatchewan in order to keep our young people economically satisfied. Some have proposed more local training opportunities. And others have even said why don’t we just accept they’re going to go, and replace them with immigrants.

I have a much simpler answer, one befitting a local girl who neither studies the statistics, nor understands them a majority of the time.

But, I just say to all of us (myself included), ‘stop telling our kids to go.’

You heard me, and I unfortunately, have heard myself repeat the ‘get-out-and-see-the-world’ song and dance. Now, I still stand by the familiar refrain that it’s important to experience the world. But, what we repeatedly forget to sing in our oft-repeated song is the last verse, where we tell our kids that it’s more than okay to return to our home province to enjoy the unparalleled quality of life to be found here.

I remember when my husband and I left Saskatchewan some 20 years ago now. We had both just graduated with degrees and our only mission was to ‘go West’. We didn’t consider cost of living, distance from family or quality of life. Those considerations weren’t part of the equation … we just wanted to get the heck out of Saskatchewan, as seemed to be preached to us around every corner we turned. How celebrated we were for moving to British Columbia: ‘oh it must be so nice to live in the mountains,’ ‘oh, you are lucky to get out of Saskatchewan,’ were some of the often-repeated comments.

British Columbia was good to us for five years, but when we decided to pack up the moving van and head back home, you would not believe the response.

‘Why did you move back here?’, ‘How could you live in a small town?’,’you’re kidding!’ were just a few of the not-so-pleasant sentiments expressed by both those we left and those we came back to.

So, as long as our collective social definition of success is to live outside of Saskatchewan, our young people will continue to leave. As we plan for our children’s futures, it seems many of us do so with a mission to get them out of the province.

As parents stockpile savings bonds and RESPs in order to fund educations and futures away from where we live now, we are sending a strong message to our kids: to leave is to be successful. The message of leaving and discovering is not a bad one, but rarely is that message followed by any kind of ‘come back home’ sentiment. There are rarely funds saved for children which are earmarked to invest in small-town businesses or regional college training opportunities that are close to home.

I myself am guilty. We started a fund when our son was born called the ‘university’ fund. We didn’t think much about it at the time, we just thought we were being good parents by setting aside some money for an education. We’ve now changed our tune, and try to call it the ‘future’ fund, realizing that our son may want to go to technical school close to home or may want to use the money to start a small-town business. We, as a society, are all guilty of contributing to the myth of living the good life ‘outside’ of Saskatchewan. How often have you heard Alberta heralded as the ‘land of opportunity’ or ‘God’s country’. I wonder if we started calling Saskatchewan the same thing for just a year, how many opportunities our kids would search out, and find, right here at home.

As long as we keep defining kids’ success as getting out of town, and as long as we herald other provinces as being ‘the land of opportunity’, our kids are going to keep leaving.

I’d like to blame the Saskatchewan government, Ralph Klein and the Alberta oil patch for the exodus problem, but I’m afraid that the finger points right back to us.

Christalee Froese welcomes comments at lcfroese@sasktel.net