You don't actually have to get a work visa for voluntary work, but UNICEF, who I worked for voluntarily, ask for this. I phoned the immigration dept 2 times and spoke to different people just to check that what they both said tied up as I heard different things from different people. The basic thing is that you _do not_ need a work permit to do voluntary work, but you need to be able to prove that you are not doing what would otherwise be a paid job for a Canadian. So, if you are working for an organisation such as UNICEF which has worldwide recognition then it is not too difficult, it is understood that these organisations work on voluntary support. But if you were to work at the local Pizza place voluntarily this would be a different matter, as you can see! However, if the organisation has a policy where you need one then that is a different issue. It is by no means a foregone conclusion, though, that you will be issued with one just because UNICEF asks for it.

The down side of having to get a work visa is that you need to leave the country to apply (we just went down to Seattle) and spend a day in the immigration dept with quite often very rude immigration officers who are very nasty to certain people, I don't know all the stories of course but they seemed very racist to me - when I was there just myself and another white man got our visa's, others waited in vain. You are given a piece of paper with your case no. on and it says that you have been accepted. On the way back you need to produce this at the border where you get another lecture and interrogation by very nasty border immigration officers.

BUT, after saying that, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages for us. We could then get our kids into school for free (otherwise it would have been $6500 for each child for half a year) and we were entitled to health care. In fact all of the advantages that you get with a work permit really, but still no pay!