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World Youth Congress 2008
About this event: 4th World Youth Congress - Quebec City 2008

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


When I grow older
I will be stronger
They'll call me freedom
Just like a waving flag

-K'Naan

I have just arrived back in Toronto after a wonderful, crazy, busy and mind stretching week at the 4th World Youth Congress in Quebec City.

I wanted to write as the thoughts are fresh in my mind. It's hard to sum into a few words what I want to say, as there are a flurry of emotions which are crowding my ability to describe clearly everything that I saw and experienced. All I know is that these youth conferences always leave me feeling revitalized, re-energized and positive about the changes which our youth want to make in the world. So often we are jaded by this ideal and desire to "change the world". People think that this is a naive way of thinking and it is reserved for the young minds who do not know better.

Well, you know what? If these thoughts to better our world are considered naive, then I am not ashamed to say that I am naive. I would rather be put into this category of so called youth who know no better, then to be jaded, conservative and take no action to at least TRY and achieve the unity and peace which the living beings in our world deserve.

I had the privilege to meet hundreds of youth from over 100 countries, including Ghana, Spain, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Brazil, the US, Canada, Kenya and Benin. The pool of talents, passion and drive which surrounded me for a week made me feel blessed to be where I am.

Thank you to all at the World Youth Congress who re-validated the view that changing the world is not naive, but indeed a reality which many others strive for.

live and love,
Mai

August 17, 2008 | 11:39 PM Comments  2 comments



Youth Leadership
Related to this project: Creating Local Connections Canada/Liaisons locales Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Youth Leadership

Youth make up 50% of the world's population - so why shouldn't we have a place in this world? Why shouldn't we be leaders? You don't need to be a motivational speaker, a loud personality, or good looking. You simply need to be. Motivated.
Here are three workshops I attended which prove that youth are taking the steps to inspire, inform and involve themselves in their communities today.

March 28 - Canadian Association for Community Living
Workshop: Poverty and Intellectual Disability
1 in 5 people living in poverty have a disability. We aim to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, including reducing poverty. This cannot be achieved if we compartmentalize and segregate People Living with Disabilities as a separate entity. The creation of policies, strategies, and initiatives should include PWDs, as poverty and disability are undeniably correlated.

March 29 - Town Youth Partnerships Strategy
Workshop: ICTs for social change
Information, Communication and Technology can be used for social change. Youth spend on average 8 hours on the internet. At TYPS conference, over 200 youth from across Canada who participated, worked or ran youth centers came to St. George, ON. Their energy that youth were indeed involved and active in their communities was exciting. Representatives from Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, BC and Nunavut were present.

April 9 - Project MADE
Networking and Capacity Building
Youth leadership - 7 youth came to the TIG office to learn more about TIG and CLC, and how partnerships and collaborations could happen to strengthen youth leadership within two communities: Toronto and Accra, Ghana. Muneeb and Aurora presented awesomely and we are excited for the May 8 TIG training session at the head office!

April 10, 2008 | 4:00 PM Comments  0 comments

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What Are Your Community Needs?
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Ottawa
Population: 750 000
Ottawa is my hometown, so I approached it with an insider perspective. Ottawa itself faces judgments from its larger counterparts (e.g., Toronto). It’s a large city in some eyes, and a place with little to offer to others. I think the governmental focus of the city makes people wonder what the youth are up to.

Well, needless to say there is a lot of youth activism in the form of politics. All one has to do is look at Parliament, and there are always a large group of young people gathered demonstrating, working, or simply experiencing.

However, Ottawa is comprised of a lot of suburbs and young people in Suburbia land wonder where they can direct their energies because they face a dual dilemma. The dilemma is comprised of being from a city where youth cannot feel connected to one another like Thunder Bay because it’s big, and at the same still lacking the high youth activism which its Toronto counterpart offers.

I met with Nikki Allison, the Youth Engagement Coordinator and Kyle Simunovic, the Ontario Online Community Connector at Bridgehead (a fair-trade coffee shop) to discuss team communications. I also visited Ottawa’s NGOs such as the Canadian Climate Youth Coalition, UNESCO, CODE, Amnesty International, and a CLC advisor from Heritage Canada.

There is a lot of motivation to become more active in the community. Turn towards Parliament Hill and on the political front it is impressive. Turn towards individuals and there are a lot of young people saying, “yeah, we want to change the world … but how?” Turn towards the NGOs and there is a lot of mobilization and initiatives. Ottawa needs to be more effective in youth collaborations and partnerships, so that youth know where to go to feel a sense of community.

Montreal
Population: 1 000 000
I spent only a day in Montreal meeting with Ilyes El Ouarzadi, the Quebec Online Community Connector, Yassir El Ouarzadi, the Montreal Youth Engagement Coordinator, and Sessi Hankourin the Francophone Engagement Coordinator. Nikki Allison joined me, and we practiced our French in a meeting to discuss youth engagement. There were many interesting observations made by the team. A lot of French youth attracted to our site are from other countries, and there are very few French Canadians who use the TIG site. We had to examine the reasons for this, as well as the reality that French organizations are reluctant to partner with Anglophone organizations because resources in French are often not available. It was wonderful to meet with the Quebec team, and although TIG has improved on its French initiatives, there is a lot more work to do as an organization if we seriously want to engage French youth and address the language divide.

Timmins
Population: 42 000
I definitely found Timmins’ energy from its youth. I met the Timmins Team Youth Engagement Coordinators Staci Kentish, Lynne Lessard and Philip Fry. They are extremely active in their community on various engagement levels such as government. Lynne and Phil are involved in the Ontario Young Liberals, while Staci works for an MP from the NDP. Their connections have aided in the incredible youth engagement done in a short amount of time.

In one month, the team has done a Guide to Action workshop and are in the midst of organizing a Climate Change workshop for high school students, as well as an awareness booth at The Joker, a youth hang out and the Timmins Square Mall. I also had the chance to see the library where the March Break Change That Clicks program will take place for 5 days. Another exciting accomplishment is the partnership of Staci’s MP with a Guide to Action workshop. They aim to target Attawapiskat youth (a nearby reserve). In addition, there will be a largely publicized youth forum, supported by the MP in April.

Once more, I was revved by the small town as it is conducive to recruiting a lot of interest for youth activism in a limited amount of time. When there is initiative and leadership from the youth, the community provides little obstacles for success. The young people of Timmins offer their environment an incredible amount of revitalization and life, and they are enthusiastic about getting involved in their community.

February 15, 2008 | 11:17 AM Comments  1 comments

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the Youth are Dancing
Related to country: Canada

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