Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
VICTORIA — The royal tour ends today, but before it closes Prince William and Kate will meet with social and mental health providers in Victoria.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made it their mission to meet as many Canadians from as many walks of life as possible during their eight-day tour.
The royal couple visited Vancouver’s most impoverished neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastside, participated in First Nations ceremonies in Bella Bella and Haida Gwaii, B.C., and met residents in the small northern community of Carcross, Yukon.
The family is scheduled to depart by sea plane from Victoria Harbour later today.
The federal government announced a gift to mark the tour, pledging $100,000 to be split equally between two organizations.
Half of the donation will go to the Prince’s Charities Canada to promote education in indigenous communities and help young people, while the other half will be donated to the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia to help new arrivals with housing, employment and language skills.
William and Kate will spend the last few hours of their trip focusing on youth and mental health, causes they have advocated for in the U.K. and have shown an interest in throughout their Canadian tour.
Their itinerary has them visiting the Cridge Centre for the Family, a non-profit society that offers child care, supportive housing, respite care and other social services.
The schedule then has William and Kate meeting with members of the Kelty Mental Health and Resource Centre, which provides support to children and their families in need of mental health services. The centre, and the foundation that helped develop it, is named after Kelty Patrick Dennehy, who died by suicide at the age of 17.
While the centre is located at the B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, it is still accessible to the estimated 140,000 children and youth who experience mental-health disorders across the province through online, telephone and peer-network resources.
William and Kate end the day meeting with members of the Sail and Life Training Society, which teaches youth how to sail tall ships, and representatives of the charity Jack.org, a student leadership program that supports mental health promotion.
