What We Do
And more to come...
A Youth Policy for Canada (2018) - 2018-03-01
The SCC begins hosting workshops across Canada to support youth input into Canada’s first federal youth policy.
The Canada We Want (2017) - 2017-01-01
The SCC launches the #CanadaWeWant Youth Movement
Sharing the Stories Research and Evaluation platform (2011) - 2011-01-01
The SCC pilot tests and launches the Sharing the Stories Research and Evaluation platform.
Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement (2000) - 2000-01-01
The SCC is awarded the designation of the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement. CEYE is a network of youth, organizations and academics focused on generating and sharing knowledge of youth engagement best practices.
Health Canada Youth Action Committee on Tobacco (1999) - 1999-01-01
The SCC supports Health Canada to setup a Youth Action Committee (YAC) on Tobacco. The Youth Leadership Team (formerly YAC) is now the longest-serving federal youth advisory mechanism.
Asia Connects Conference (1997-1998) - 1997-01-01
50 SCC staff across the country. 10 simultaneous youth conferences in each province connected by video link software.
The Students Commission of Canada (1991) - 1991-01-03
270 young people generated recommendations for action to improve the lives of youth in Canada. The final recommendation "commissioned" an organization for "students" to implement the recommendations. That is who the Students Commission was born.
Youth Adult Partnerships (1991) - 1991-01-01
TG Magazine invited to report on a national youth conference at Humber College. Event demonstrated the power of youth-adult partnerships
Teen Generation (1980s) - 1980-01-01
Teen Generation (TG) written by youth with adult support and distributed to all schools across Canada
National Youth Magazine (1940s) - 1940-01-01
National youth magazine founded by youth
We achieve our charitable purpose and desired outcome by:
Providing Youth Opportunities
"We incubate and innovate through inter-generational partnerships and, because we do, we generate sparks for positive change."
We work in inter-generational partnerships to support young people to put their ideas for improving themselves, their peers and their communities into action. We design programs and facilitation to run conferences, events, youth groups, advisories and skill building opportunities. We work to deliver these programs through our youth-adult partnerships in a network of organizations across Canada. This Youth-Adult Partnership Network Includes youth, adult allies and grassroots organizations in local communities who support youth to thrive. Many of our network partners participate in our funded projects and support us to deliver national programs connected across the country. Two other networks are also co-ordinated nationally: The Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement and Sharing the Stories. Various local and regional networks include the Greater Than Network in Prince Edward County, ON, the Y2KFLA Network in eastern Ontario, and the Saskatoon Youth Strategy Network, SK
Influencing Those Who Influence Youth
"We work with partners and, because we do, we are inclusive and supportive, building community and strengthening a network of partners dedicated to youth thriving."
We are grounded in the principles of network leadership (Wei-Skillern, Ehrlichman, and Sawyer (2015):
- Trust not control… Diverse actors invest resources into building long-term relation
- Humility not brand…Network leaders are largely anonymous by design… they cede their power to the collective
- Node not hub…Network leaders not only connect to the larger system around them…, but also deliberately catalyze and lead action-oriented networks that are aligned around a defined shared purpose.
- Mission not organization… Network leaders are motivated to achieve maximum impact rather than to advance themselves or their organizations.
Storytelling, Research and Evaluation on the Impact of Youth Engagement
"We turn knowledge into action, and action into knowledge and, because we do, we are constantly learning and improving our process, as well as those of others."
We lead a national network of youth, youth-serving agencies and academic partners called the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement interested in sharing best practices on youth engagement. We facilitate the Centre’s research initiatives including Sharing the Stories, an on-line and interactive platform focused on amplifying the voices of youth and organizations. There are currently 315 Sharing the Stories subscribers to the platform. We work with each subscriber to develop a customized evaluation plan that is grounded in sharing the voice of young people..