During the grant application process, we were asked, "How are you going to ensure marginalized young people are involved (i.e. those most affected by the issues)?"

This is a crucial question for any organization, particularly one claiming to represent an entire area. For example, while the Toronto Youth Cabinet aspires to be representative of all youth in Toronto, this is not the reality. We are trying to address this by creating more economic opportunities for people who cannot afford to volunteer their time, forming strong relationships with other youth-led organizations in Toronto, and doing outreach and activities in specific communities.

For a national initiative, this question is equally important. I can’t speak to the lived experience of conference participants, but I do know that you can’t legitimately call an initiative “Pan-Canadian” if Francophone and Aboriginal groups are not involved in a meaningful way. Had we started organizing earlier, we could have fundraised travel subsidies to help translate interest from marginalized groups into attendance.

In addition, the need for inclusion was a key message in Taking It Global’s recent Report on National Youth Councils:

A NYC must be the result of a cooperative effort and interest of existing, active youth groups and organizations who are involved from the outset. In a country like Canada, creating equal opportunity for groups from the whole geographical expanse to be involved in this "founding" process will be a particular challenge.

Based on the new Creating Local Connections project, it looks to me like they are positioning themselves to support initiatives that will help a Canadian National Youth Council take form organically. And with staff hired specifically to work with Francophone and Aboriginal youth, there is clearly a focus on inclusion.

Now, given that we youth cabinets/councils often fail to engage marginalized youth, and given that many areas do not have youth cabinets/councils, how inclusive would it be for us to attempt to form a national network without anyone else?

Should we be more inclusive in our planning of next year's conference, particularly in terms of involving marginalized youth? Or, should we view our organizing as only one part of a larger puzzle, and not include non-youth cabinet youth? These are the questions I am wrestling with.

P.S. I really wish youth across Canada had been in a position to respond to the federal government's recent $1 billion in budget cuts to programs supporting equity seeking groups. The federal youth employment program was cut in half, which means thousands of summer jobs disappeared!