History
In the summer of 2006 the Students Commission and the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement, with our partners throughout Canada were able to hire 18 youth summer staff, with diverse backgrounds and experiences. They identified this as a project that interested them and felt that they could contribute to its inception. The initial goal was to collect data from youth about the concept of a national youth body and to answer the question, “Is this something youth think is important and something that they want?” Since then, something more meaningful has occurred: young people have identified a desire to take a much more active role, promoting the concept to their friends, classmates, teachers and other youth, engaging more and more people in the discussion about the development of not just a structure or a body – but to explore a process that can exist to ensure youth voice is heard in Canada.Our Project Model
The YDM has established a working model that guides the work we do when we undertake an issue. It starts with an issue being identified, either by young people, organizations, government or systems. We examine how we know what we know about the issue: from our own experiences, the experiences of our peers and family and from science – research and facts about that issue. We create opportunities for discussions to take place on the issue. We consult others broadly – ensuring participation. This might mean creating a discussion guide, organizing focus groups, interviews, surveys or other ways to continue the discussion on the issue. The decision making process will help turn the discussions and decisions into recommendations that can inform policy makers. The circle is complete when the outcomes are reported back to those people who participated – to help demonstrate how their contribution was used. In short, the model above helps us visualize what our journey is going to look like regardless the issue being explored.