Prepared by Douglas S. McCall,
Centre on Community and School Health
Canadian Association for School Health for the Division of
Childhood and Adolescence
The Canadian Association for School Health gratefully acknowledges the support of the Division of Childhood and Adolescence enabling the Association to report on these examples of youth involvement in public decision-making.
The Canadian Association for School Health (CASH) is a federation of 12 provincial/territorial coalitions that promote the use of a coordinated and comprehensive approach to health promotion that uses the school as a strategic site within the community to reach children and youth as well as adults. The Association promotes cooperative efforts among the school, the home and the community in a framework for action called Comprehensive School Health (CSH). The employees of Shannon & McCall Consulting Ltd. act as the staff for the Association. The national office of the Association is located at 2835 Country Woods Drive, Surrey, BC, V4P 9P9, Telephone (604) 535-7664 Fax (604) 531-6454, E-mail dmccall@netcom.ca
The Centre is affiliated with the Canadian Association for School Health and brings together researchers and others to examine and disseminate research related to schools, parents, youth, agencies and communities working together to promote the healthy development of children and youth as well as adults who work within and with school systems. The Centre has an extensive collection of selected documents on health issues and strategies for health promotion of children and youth. An abstract database describing those documents is available on the Internet on a subscription basis. Recent research projects undertaken by the centre include heart health, school readiness, student health indicators, nutrition, youth-led health promotion and AIDS prevention.
The following sites were identified in consultation with Health Canada officials and agreed to participate in this study.
Five Sets of Criteria to Assess Youth Involvement in Public Decision-Making
The following five sets of criteria assessing the effectiveness of youth involvement in public decision-making were developed from a variety of sources (See References). Each of these five sets includes several questions, derived from research, that assess the effectiveness of youth involvement programs and activities.
Health Canada (1995), Turning Points, Family and Child Health Unit, Ottawa, ON, pp. 15-16
Canadian Mental Health Association (1995), Working With Young People: A Guide to Youth Participating in Decision-Making, Canadian Mental Health Association, Toronto, ON.
Health Canada (1996), Capture the Learning: Lessons Learned from the Partners for Children Fund, Division of Childhood and Adolescence, Ottawa, ON.
Carr Rey A, Mobilizing Peer Support to Assist in Tobacco Reduction, Victoria, BC, Peer Resources / Publications Inc.
Caputo T, Weiler R & Green L (1996) Peer Helper Initiatives for Out-of-the-Mainstream-Youth, Ottawa, ON, Health Canada
Cargo Margaret, Ward Patricia, Frankish C James (1996), West End Youth Project. Final Report, B.C. Health Research Foundation, Vancouver, BC.
CASH (1992), School-Community Partnerships for Healthy and Sustainable Environments, Surrey, BC, Canadian Association for School Health
Canadian Mental Health Association (1995), Working With Young
People: A Guide to Youth
Participating in Decision-Making, Canadian Mental Health
Association, Toronto, ON.
CCSD (1998), The Progress of Canada's Children, Ottawa, ON, Canadian Council on Social Development.
Cohen L (1993) Youth Action: A Report on the Canada 125 Youth Community Workshops, Ottawa, Canadian Youth Foundation
Fetterman DM (1996), Empowerment Evaluation: An Introduction to Theory and Practice in Fetterman DM et al, (1995) Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-Assessment and Accountability, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage
National Crime Prevention Council, !1997) Young People Say: Report from the Youth Consultation Initiative, Ottawa, ON
Georgeault P & Sylvain L (1978) La participation des parents dans les comites des ecoles, Conseil Superieur de l'education du Quebec, Ministere de l'education du Quebec
McCall D (1979) Parent Participation: An Examination of the Potential Changes in Legislation Creating Orientation Councils in Quebec (Unpublished)
Shannon & McCall Consulting Ltd. (1997), Youth-Led Health Promotion A Framework for Investigating Effectiveness and Creating an Inventory of Tobacco and Other Programs, Canadian Association for School Health, Tobacco Reduction Program, Health Canada
Zypchyn, K and Brian Hill (1993), Manuel d'action jeunesse: Guide pour la gestion des projets. Ottawa, ON, Canadian Youth Foundation
Research that has been conducted on the attitudes of youth has shown that youth have a number of concerns that relate to a variety of issues - self-esteem, peers and social relations, family violence, sexuality and experiences at school. As well, young people want to be listened to and treated with respect and to be involved in a meaningful manner in the decision making that will affect their lives. Youth participation is also important to service providers and policy makers - this importance is reflected in a number of documents and policies promote youth decision making, such as the National Children's Agenda and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The report Hearing the Voices of Youth: A Review of Research and Consultation Documents, is based on a detailed review of documents which have recorded the views of youth on health related issues. An extensive search was undertaken to identify relevant materials. This included research reports, conference proceedings, consultation documents and other Resources / Publications in which the voices of young people were recorded. These documents were then examined to identify key patterns and themes in the comments young people made about their health-related concerns and the suggestions they made for responding to these concerns.
This study was designed to gather information on what is currently happening in Canadian communities with respect to youth participation. It was intended as a way of learning from people's experiences with youth participation and hearing their assessment of "what works." A decision was made to focus on youth participation at the municipal level since these government structures are close to the communities they serve and provide services which cut across various sectors of concern to youth. One of the main objectives of this study was to identify three or four "best practices" models which could be used for future work on youth participation. The following five key issues were examined during this study:
This study employed a three step research process. In the first step relevant Canadian material was reviewed to identify components that could be included in "best practices" models of youth participation. In the second step, in-depth telephone interviews were conducted with knowledgeable individuals in different community types around the country. This included municipal officials, representatives of youth-serving agencies and police officers familiar with police-based youth initiatives. In this stage, 30 communities were included and they were selected from the five federal regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, Pacific), with six communities selected from each region to ensure regional representation. In the third step of the study, 15 of the 30 communities on the interview list were selected for site visits. Three communities were selected from each of the five regions - with sites of different sizes and in different parts of the country, including both rural and urban centres, as well as some Northern communities being included.
Amongst the findings some concerns stood out. These include the following:
What are the most important concerns currently being voiced by young people in your community?
How does your community identify the concerns of young people?
Do young people from all sectors of the youth population including marginal and high risk youth have an opportunity to participate?
What would be the best way of involving young people in your community?
The study was designed to identify three or four "best practices" models for youth participation and involvement. Although these models exist in theory, what was found in the communities was a more complex set of structures and processes. It is often very difficult for youth to voice their concerns and although there are some formal opportunities for youth participation at the municipal level, there was considerable frustration with the lack of progress made on youth issues. Many of the respondents agreed that a combination of local, inter-agency and political level involvement was required for a successful and sustainable youth participation program.