For the past six years at Golden's Lady Grey Elementary School (LGES), Mrs. McMullan has been running a club called Youth Take Charge from September to June. This is a group of grade 7 students who do weekly workshops with Mrs. McMullan and who then, in March, go to the #CanadaWeWant Conference in Toronto. The conference is funded by the Government of Canada through the Exchanges Canada Program. Due to popular demand, this club continues at Golden Secondary School with Kristine Divall.  

“At the #CanadaWeWant Conference we continue to explore this key question: What do young people want for Canada's future? 160 youth and adult allies from every province and territory are invited annually to act on issues impacting young people. Together, conference delegates discuss and study the issues of greatest relevance to Canadian youth, decide on concrete actions to take, and are supported to present their findings to key decision makers in government. As collaborators, we need their voice and recommendations to make an impact on issues impacting Canadian youth today.” -Students Commission of Canada 

Over the 5 days of the conference, participants break out into various theme teams, discussing topics such as healthy relationships, truth leading to reconciliation, and mental health, just to name a few. They spend time studying and discussing these issues while sharing their own lived experiences all while building a safe space to express themselves.  

Towards the end of the conference, participants develop actionable items and recommendations to be delivered directly to policy and decision makers in government and youth serving organizations at the National showcase, hosted by RBC in Downtown Toronto. 

This year, 7 students from Golden attended the #CanadaWeWant conference from both LGES and GSS. At 12 years old, youth from Lady Grey Elementary are some of the youngest that attend the conference. Five of the 7 youth delegates that attended the conference this year presented at the National showcase, in both French and English.  

Youth Take Charge club, and the #CanadaWeWant conference have many curricular connections, competencies, and content. They include healthy relationship workshops and youth facilitator training, communication, collaboration, critical and reflective thinking. The conference also has a focus on Truth and Reconciliation and the Calls to Action, as well, more than half of the youth are of Indigenous ancestry. 

Mrs. McMullan and Kristine Divall are enormously proud of these youth, they made new friends with people from other communities, gained a greater appreciation of how diverse Canada is and are encouraged to get more involved in their community.