Why Canada needs a national youth service policy!
Intentional or otherwise, governments define the public values of their nation through the policies they champion as well as those they chose to ignore. Through this lens then, what can be said about the importance (or lack thereof) that we as a nation place on preparing our youth to take their rightful place as our leaders of tomorrow? Not as much as we should, I believe. Toward this end, a logical starting place would surely be to ask what values we, as a nation-state, seek to promote or instil in our future generations that will contribute positively to the difficult business of nation building. Surely among the leading candidates for attention here is a culture of volunteer service; an understanding that along with the privileges and benefits of belonging to Canada, is the responsibility (and privilege) of contributing to the betterment of our country. A national youth service corps, offering young Canadians a structured learning opportunity, in which they contribute to communities through volunteer service in the fields of the environment, education, child and elder care, and recreation, to name a few, could serve as the principle vehicle to accomplish this.
National youth service as a concept is nothing new. As far back as 1947, no less a luminary as Mahatma Gandhi urged his country to “form a service army to undertake a thirteen-fold constructive program to bring literacy, healthcare, schools and agriculture cooperation and decency to every village in India.’’(1) In 1965, then U.N. Secretary General U Thant weighed in with the declaration, “I am looking forward to the day when the average youngster […] will consider that one or two years of work for the cause of development either in a faraway country or […] his own community is a normal part of one’s education.”(2) These world figures and others recognized the reciprocal nature of volunteer service, that is the server often benefits as much if not more than those served. In fact today, over 65 countries have a legislated national youth policy.
Closer to home, there are no shortages of models to be found in our own backyard. For nearly 30 years now, Katimavik, Canada’s internationally celebrated national youth service program, has facilitated the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood for over 27,000 young Canadians who serve as volunteers with grass roots organizations in hundreds of communities from coast to coast. Additional benefits of this program include the unifying effect that accrues from living and working shoulder to shoulder with fellow Canadians from all provinces and territories, not to mention the understanding and tolerance that results from exposure to three different regions of the country throughout the course of the nine-month program. Other organizations provide a similar outlet with an international focus. However, in the absence of a supporting policy structure, these well-intentioned organizations represent a fragmented and therefore somewhat ineffectual approach to a worthy cause that deserves better. In fact, they exist at the whim of the government of the day, having to devote too much of their limited resources to securing their funding and ensuring their own survival.
A strong national youth service policy would produce visible evidence of the federal government's commitment to ensure that this vital segment of our population is integrated into the socio-economic life of our society. By engaging Canadian youth in national service, we would promote active citizenship while at the same time helping to strengthen the capacity of volunteer-based community organizations.
National youth service is also a good investment. In 2006, a national study (Malatest & Associates) concluded that each dollar invested in Katimavik generates an average return of $2.20 to Canadian society. For the 2005-2006 program year, this represented a total economic return of $16,138,331 in 105 communities.(3) This data is based on the value of volunteer work and other secondary economic benefits. Each Katimavik participant contributes 900 hours of service over a period of nine months at the community level, in areas such as health, education, recreation and environmental conservation.
Personal benefits for youth include increased employability, improved academic performance, and higher participation rates in civic activities and second language acquisition, not to mention a very high return rate to post-secondary education with a clear direction for the future.
The establishment of such a policy would demonstrate to Canadians and to the world the federal government's commitment to youth and the role they can play in social and economic development. It would also allow for more coordinated (and therefore efficient) efforts on the part of Canadian agencies, NGO’s and other government institutions currently involved in youth programming.
Ultimately, such a policy would help promote youth participation in community and civic affairs, aiding youth to understand their important role and responsibilities in achieving Canada’s social and economic development objectives. A youth policy would also aim at ensuring that youth issues are reflected at all sectors of national development, both on micro and macro levels within the public, private sectors and civil society. It would emphasise affirmative action for youth as a strategy of participation and empowerment.
Let’s imagine the possibilities for the future of Canada. A well thought out national youth service policy, backed up by adequate funding, would make a bold public statement about the value we as Canadians place on the future of our youth, what it means to be a citizen, the importance of tolerance toward others and an appreciation for the magnificent cultural differences found between regions and peoples of this great country. Our youth deserve no less and as a matter of fact neither do we!
Jean-Guy Bigeau
Executive Director
Katimavik
1. Harris Wofford, “Message to the Conference,” National Youth Service into the 21st Century, ed Bridie Duffy, Community Service Volunteers, (London: 1998) p.12.
2. Donald J. Eberly, “Endorsements of National Service”, ed., National Service: A Report of a Conference, Russell Sage Foundation, (New York: 1968) p. 3.
3. Social and Economic Impact Study of the Katimavik program, R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd., June 2006
Back
|
|
