YSI Conference

Accelerating the Movement of Youth Work in Ontario
Written By: Kent Rutledge and Abe Drennan

This weekend, among the snowy nights and warm sleeping bags, more than fifty delegates from across Canada came to Cedar Ridge in McArthur’s Mills to discuss Youth Social Infrastructure. We celebrated, amplified, explored and accelerated the movement of youth work in Ontario. The desire is to accelerate youth work that actually works. It was identified that many sectors want to engage youth in a meaningful way but don't know how. Eliminating tokenism may mean changing the culture of a particular sector. It may mean looking at the system and working within to build on what is working and evolving it, or creating an entirely new system based and built upon particular non-negotiable platforms identified by youth, youth workers and adult serving youth.  But this can only happen when the quality of the relationship is the most important key element, that building trust is the only way to create buy-in and a sustainable future for youth work in the province.   
 
Rural youth identified feeling isolated, left out, and bored, sometimes leading to substance abuse and violence in communities. Distances are major barriers to making connections and feeling included. But instead of playing the victim and dwelling in the “poor me” approach, we would develop an asset based approach that creates more connections, and bridges the distances that allows for information, knowledge and practice sharing. More connections and relationships between rural youth organizations are necessary. Kinship exchanges were identified as a particular approach that would allow for rural and urban youth to visit face to face and share their worlds with one another, sharing "street sense" and "bush sense". This would give urban youth an opportunity to experience the outdoors by going canoeing and camping, learning how to make a fire and set-up a tent. It would give rural youth an opportunity to experience different cultures, food, and the vibrancy of what city life has to offer. Gathering Coordinator Abe Drennan said, "It is an exciting time for North Hastings to celebrate, explore and accelerate the way youth work is happening, for us to look at our assets and build upon them. There has been a legacy left here as this gathering will never be forgotten."  
 
There was an international, intergenerational mix of people ages 14-55. People joined us from Longlac, Thunder Bay, Sault St. Marie, Bancroft, London, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.  There were grassroots youth organizations, youth serving organizations, provincial funders, public and mental health professionals and educators. A Native elder also joined us and grounded us in our work by reminding us where we were, the sacredness of the land and the importance of weaving the spiritual element in our lives and in our work.

The weekend offered an opportunity for individuals to gage their level of commitment to the movement. The next meeting will be held in early summer and will include people from this gathering who have committed to joining the core team to advance and accelerate the platforms that were created and built upon during the weekend. The weekend also offered many things as the wisdom of the crowd drove the process and created a vibrant, creative, energizing, and fun atmosphere. People engaged and immersed themselves in sharing circles, storytelling, open space and world cafe facilitation methods. While tackling difficult and complex topics, these methods were able to build trust and social infrastructure in the moment.
 

Youth in Action member Kent Rutledge thought “It was exciting to meet a group of individuals like myself who care about the youth not only in Bancroft and in their own hometowns, but Ontario, and all of Canada as well. There was a great spirit in the room and everyone felt like they could make a difference, which was made even greater as everyone got to know each better, and become friends and allies. The discussions held during YSI made me wonder if positive change is actually possible. It was empowering to know that the diverse delegates who came to YSI came from various youth organizations from all over Ontario. I got to wondering: if there are six councilor positions in Bancroft, why isn’t there a youth representative? Why don’t we some youth in parliament? People say we should respect our elders. But shouldn’t our elders respect our youth? Better yet, shouldn’t everyone respect everyone?”

 
Christina Stone, a fellow member of Youth in Action who attended the event, wanted to add “how amazing it was to talk to people who take us, as youth, seriously.”
 
Who knows what the future will hold for Youth Social Infrastructure, but there is positive change in the air. Youth are not just our future, they are our present as well.
 
Huge thanks to our sponsors:
 
Hastings Highlands
Community Futures Development Corporation
Bancroft and District Chamber of Commerce
Wollaston Township
Township of Carlo/Mayo
Princess Sodalite Mine
ANAF
Children's Mental Health Services
North Hastings Community Integration Association