Tyler Sommers' Blog

Okay, so I thought there was some sort of a problem with our blogs, but fortunately I had just forgotten my login information!

Well the election is underway and everyone is super busy! The CYA has launched a new project - Bridge the Gap - where we get questions from you to ask community leaders.

Our first participant is Fair Vote Canada! So, if you'd like to ask them a question (think of them as experts on electoral reform) please email me at sommerst(a t)cya-ajc.ca.

We're always looking for new volunteers, so if you have an interest please email me! I'll start blogging here more often now that I remember my information

Tyler

So the Canadian Youth Assembly has been going through a rather interesting and sweeping change as of late. After our elections we realized the role we'd envisioned for the members simply didn't work, heck, it didn't even make any sense. So, we've had to change quite a few things and those changes will ensure that the CYA develops rather quickly into a heck of a lot more than we've been in the past. Mind you, we've all learned a lot and the experiences I've had with the CYA have been nothing short of life altering; I guess that's really an incredible benefit from doing things yourself... you may take a lot longer getting wherever you're going, but you learn more than you'd ever thought you would.

Going through the process of a failed organization, the discussions whether to continue (at first I was not a fan of doing anything like the CYA ever again), and learning that the passion and drive of the people you'd been working with was so phenomenal and so inspiring, changes you. If I had to relive that whole situation, I know I would take that same path.

But I'm digressing from the original purpose of my entry today. I'm writing today to spread the word about a couple of websites I was forwarded which are absolutely amazing.

The first paragraph of this site says it all (http://www.samaracanada.com/Best_Political_Writing). It's important that we read about and understand the political landscape in which we live. Knowledge is power, and while it may be cliche to say things like this, it's honestly true. You'll avoid the mistakes made in the past, you'll learn things you may not learn otherwise, and if nothing else you'll learn a lot about the system that operates around you (and includes you!). You will learn, trust me, because no one knows everything (though people seldom hate to admit this) and we're all uninformed and ignorant about a great deal of things.

Check out the site which includes a list of some of the most interesting and informative political writing about Canada: http://www.samaracanada.com/Best_Political_Writing. You'll be glad you did.

Oh, and they run a contest! You guess who said the quote they post and you could win a selection from their list! The next quote will be put up on August 30th! Neat contest and great reward. It's also worth checking out at http://www.samaracanada.com/Guess_Who_Contest

Till next time,

Tyler Sommers

Hello hello.

So the public side of things has kind of drifted off in the CYA.. posting on the forums is lessened, which is rather unhealthy for our goals.

So we're going to be whipping things back into shape.

Our website is getting a much needed reorganization, making it easier to know what we're doing and to keep you informed.
Our forum and social networking will be revamped.
Our volunteers will be posting on the forum regularly (I'll see what I can do about getting them blogging as well).
I'm also floating the idea of having regular focus groups with our members on various topics - to get a youth perspective on things (using our chat software).

So we have a few more volunteers and we're changing the way we handle and get them working because we've lost too many of them due to lack of communication.

We do, however, have a great document on outreaching to Aboriginal peoples from one of our volunteers, expect that up on the site (I think it's on the forum already) soon.

And a big thing the February 20th Conference in Ottawa. February 20th we'll be holding a leadership conference in Ottawa, our first keynote speaker is Steve Paikin of TVO's The Agenda.

Check out our Facebook event

Information is also on our main website

If you have suggestions for the CYA, feel free to visit the ideas section of our forum

Till next time,

Tyler Sommers

Alright, so things have been a little slow, that's normal though so don't worry.

September was slow for us last year as well, so I'm not worried. Things will pick up. We're still planning a smaller conference for November, in Toronto. Larger one in 2010 in Ottawa. Woopee. If you can help, please let me know (sommerst[ a t]cya-ajc.ca (replace middle with @)).

Now, there are a couple of reasons I'm writing this.. the first one I actually forget. Great.

Well, we do still need volunteers (badly) so if you have friends/relatives/strangers who might be interested, give them our info and my email.

If you like to write or draw, send me some stuff for The Representative!

Now, I've seen a lot going on with CYA parties and most of it is great! But I do have to stress one thing very, very clearly: Do not do anything if you would be upset that we (the CYA) did it.

That means, if you do something, make sure it's something that you would be alright, happy, anything but unhappy/displeased at all (because we all want to take whatever steps we can to make everyone happy) with us doing.

So, would you be happy if we restructured the organization without even mentioning it to you? Unlikely. Would you like it if we just appointed a bunch of positions that are supposed to be elected? Unlikely. etc, etc.

In order to have the CYA parties work and in order to get the most out of them, you really need to work toward doing things the way you want everyone else to do. CYA parties are a micro-version of what some of you may well be doing in the future - the primary difference will be the level of accountability you face. While there are many things you can 'get away' with in CYA parties, you won't be able to do the same thing 'in real life' (and probably won't get a second chance if you try to do it). So please, treat the CYA parties properly and have respect for your peers.

The CYA is a shining example that everyone's input counts and will help make a strong whole. The sum of the pieces are indeed greater. The CYA has been built (bylaws included) by our membership! I'm very proud of this and mention it relentlessly.

And finally. Please be honest with us (the volunteers). We're very open to 'bending the rules' and making exceptions if the situation warrants for them. Just send us an email and say "we're thinking about doing x. I know that we're technically not supposed to do it, but we feel it's best because of z y and p. Do you mind if we go ahead?" - Our response (given that your z, y and p are legit) will likely be something like "so long as you let your members know and are doing the best for them, sounds good!"

Don't hide things from us or lie.. we're really not stupid and we will find out. While we may not run to you and question you, we'll make note of it. Respect is something that must be earned and if you are respectful and honest to us, we'll do our best to ensure we accommodate your unique situations.

Let's be sure to act our best and show Canada what youth are capable of!

Until next time,

Tyler Sommers - signing off.

(I couldn't think of something more original, but I'll give it a shot next time).

It's that time of the year again. We're all headed back to school. What fun! I'm still working on getting my courses (unfortunately the University of Toronto has an application process for the courses I want, which means I have to do extra work just to take a course). I guess that's the price of having a school which encompasses pretty much the entire downtown core. But I digress..

You'll notice a few things new with the CYA website:

We've edited the main page (still tweaking, if you have suggestions, head to http://cya-ajc.ca/forum and let us know). It's now more informative. The centre will be for more prominent and relevant updates, near the bottom is a feed to forum announcements. The mini-feed will just be tidbits of things that happen, basically we're trying to ensure that you stay in the loop as much as possible.

We've also added Google Ads to our sites and forum. It's another way for us to generate revenue for the organization. By in large these are pay-per-click, which means that we get a few pennies when someone clicks one of the ads. If we're lucky we might get some pay-per-impression ads, which means we get paid whenever someone loads the page. As our forum alone receives tens of thousands (July we hit a high of over 100,000) page views a month, that would be nice.

I added a brief bit of information regarding the Canadian Heritage Roundtable that I attended on the CYA's behalf. Showcasing some of what we're doing (in the YOUth section).

As you may have read, ICA Canada and the Green Party of Canada support the CYA. We do not have an official endorsement letter from the GPC as of yet, but when we get one they will go up on the supporters page.

We're still planning a smaller conference in Toronto for November of this year. We're saving the larger conference for early next year (including a debate, etc) - we want to fire from all cannons (or whatever the saying is) when we hold a major conference.

CYA! Volunteering (http://volunteering.cya-ajc.ca) is going well! We are getting more and more attention and organizational support/postings every day, so be sure to take a look! There are many opportunities!

I'll do my best to keep you all up to date and keep things moving along.

Tyler Sommers