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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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yassirovich Yassir EL OUARZADI
April 8, 2008 | 4:49 PM
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT !
Hello Mai,

I read this blog before, but I forgot to let a comment. I share your opinion on the Montreal Team and what we realized in the French community and also how can we boost the Francophone and Anglophone Engagement on the Montreal TIG Community. I think we can face the language divide by creating a sort of harmony and understaning between Francophones and Anglophones in the Montreal's Region. How ? Organizing events for both Francophones and Anglophones in Montreal, holding workshop for both of them, newsletters should be always translated (Ilyes did that the first time, so it is okay) .... We should also do a lot of promotion since I think media promotion can give us more popularity and also credibility and attraction of more partcipants to the events and workshops I'll held with the help of ilyes who is very active on the TIG Website, me too :)

Yassir, CLC AND TIG Staff
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