Tyler Sommers' Blog

This is my summary and reflection of the recent roundtable run by Canadian Heritage.

I’m very curious about how they actually got our information. Now, that seems a bit pessimistic, but they actually sent the information to my old email from before we switched our website URL. Well this actually raised a red flag with myself and possibly others, so I had to go on a mission to ensure that this event actually existed. A quick google search turned up no information, so I called Canadian Heritage and when I was linked through to the individual who emailed me (and later called) I figured all was well and this was indeed a legitimate endeavour.

Now, this event started at 9am on a Tuesday, which I found to be a little odd, but I figured that because they were having this roundtable on youth discussion and how Canadian Heritage (CH) could better involve and outreach to youth, that there would mostly be young people there. Well, walking into the room I immediately understood that I was, by far, the youngest person invited (at 21); though the young woman running the meeting was probably about my age as well. Not so bad, I didn’t mind, however I thought that there was going to be a bit of a disconnect between what they were going to think and say and what I was.

After we introduced ourselves I knew that I was definitely the odd one of the group. Each organization had been established for some time, been running projects and receiving funding; whereas the CYA had just incorporated and we have gotten very little funding as of yet.

The discussion got underway and I decided that for the first little while I would sit back and wait; observing and understanding why each person was there and what they were looking to do. Well, most people were looking to ask for more money. The second part of our chat (each portion was approximately an hour) was to be about this kind of thing: what CH could do, whereas the first part was supposed to be a general discussion of what engages youth. However, both portions turned into taking shots at CH for underfunding or not funding certain things; etc.

What worked to the CYA’s benefit was that we haven’t really had the opportunity to be rejected or sift through the paperwork in applying to CH grants (but we’ll get on that now). However, having had the experience of KR (Kaitlynne-Rae Landry) and I going through the legalities to incorporate, I could understand where people were coming from. Because we lacked this experience, I was able to discuss things other than “it’s too hard to get funding” or “we’d like funding for more ventures or more funding in general,” which seemed to be very welcomed by CH (I’m sure in each roundtable they’ve heard this and at that point it was like flogging a head horse). Now, even if we had had the experience of trying to get money and going through these issues, my opinion (and I know many of your opinions) aren’t solely focused around us doing things while being funded by governmental branches.

One of the key things I heard from various youth with whom I spoke before going to this, was that there needs to be more volunteer and internship spots; essentially more non-financial contributions provided by the government. Well, that was right down the right alley: we’re avoiding talking about funding, so what else can we ask for?

I spoke with a couple of the other individuals from the organizations also represented (YES – Youth Employment Services and another organization which I have to find the name of – they run programs where they teach young women about nutrition, etc, while getting them to run marathons. I believe the representative said they had recently done this in Hamilton. If you know what I’m talking about, let me know the name: I’d like to speak with them). They seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing and also had some time to talk with me about the various practices of governments, etc (good thing I study that).

One thing I’ve learned from my work with DECDC is that people who are sent to roundtables cannot really make decisions. They can give you their card (I got 2, apparently a few other people didn’t deem the CYA as a worthy enough cause to give their card to, or perhaps they ran out of cards, although I didn’t have cards, which I explained) and they can ask you to get in touch, but there is little they can do because they are simply volunteers. So while I was hoping to get a little bit more out of them in regards to information or offers to help us in some way, I wasn’t overly disappointed when it didn’t happen.

Some of the major suggestions (other than asking for more money or broader funding) were:

• Taking a look at charitable status – this definition is archaic and needs to be readdressed.

• Creating volunteer and intern opportunities for youth.

• Getting into high schools (I mentioned jurisdictional issues, as it’s technically provincial jurisdiction) and advertising for different volunteer experiences (we all felt that everyone helps at old-folks homes, shovels snow, helps at libraries, and there is no real diversity).

• Fixing the websites. If anyone has gone through looking for jobs or internships you’ll know that things are difficult to navigate, outdated, etc.

• Have input from youth as much as possible throughout the process. You have to make sure youth are represented; you cannot make a program and give it to them and expect the same from something they’ve helped build.

• Make sure there is a tangible result. If there is nothing concrete at the end, no really effect then what’s the point in getting involved later? I made mention that having their thoughts in a report is nice, but it’s not nearly enough.

• And what I felt would be the most effective in keeping CH up-to-date and actively seeking information: A CH informative blog. It would be like the CYA Group blog – CH would send out an email to various organizations with a question, ask them to speak with their members and have them sent their response to them or post it directly on a blog-type page. This would provide CH with information, allow the youth organizations to know what CH is looking at and allow the youth organizations to see what page one another are on. This would be monumentally beneficial to everyone and would cost NOTHING! It would only take a few minutes to send out questions and post the answers and yet, the benefits are so substantial.

Now, some comments about the actual meeting. The people from CH were not at the table: the reason for this was that they felt that when they were at the table, people tended to talk to them, rather than have a true roundtable. This is a pretty legitimate reason, but it’s also been deemed illegitimizing by several political scholars (such as Montpetit, off the top of my head). I’ve been pondering which is more beneficial, but honestly couldn’t really think of whether it was better to have them in the room or observing. I do think that the fact that so much attention was paid to the fact that they were not in the room and were behind the glass was detrimental and probably removed any of the benefits (this was in part because someone was late and it had to be mentioned again).

The person running the roundtable did a wonderful job. She kept everyone on track for the most part and was able to answer questions and ask questions which ensured that (as much as I can guess) CH got what they needed. She was sent from Atlantic Evaluation Group (got her card, so I guess that makes 3 cards) and they did a wonderful job.
All in all the experience was quite enjoyable. I got to meet and mingle a little bit and saw where some of the other organizations in the third sector stand. We have some commonalities and some differences. I am very pleased to see that CH is interested in meeting with youth organizations, stepping up their effort to get to youth, and bringing themselves to the 21st century in regards to their policies, practices, and methods.

If they ever have questions, need opinions, or need help, they are welcome to ask the CYA. That goes for any person or any organization/institution that wants the opinions from youth!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know (sommerst@cya-ajc.ca)

TS