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North America Regional Hub: Canada Webinar Series — Youth Engagement Strategies for Municipalities

Publication Date:

15/07/2026

Content Type:

Event Reports

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North America Regional Hubyouth councilsYouth EmpowermentYouth Engagementyouth-local government engagement

— 9 minutes reading time

This report provides a summary of discussions during the webinar and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Strong Cities Network Management Unit, Strong Cities members, event sponsors or participants.

Summary

On 15 July 2026, the Strong Cities Network North America Regional Hub hosted the sixth instalment of its Canada Webinar Series. The session explored how municipalities can engage young people as partners in addressing local issues and equip them with the skills to participate meaningfully in prevention efforts. Representatives from CIVIX and the Students Commission of Canada outlined free programming that builds digital media literacy, constructive discussion skills and local problem-solving among students. They also explored how municipalities can facilitate the delivery of these programmes in collaboration with schools, community organisations and young people.

Speakers

• Ken Boyd, Director of Education, CIVIX
• Kelsey Davis, Digital Literacy Project Manager, CIVIX
• Christa Romaldi, Chief Development Officer, Students Commission of Canada

Key Takeaways

• Civic education is more effective when young people practise participation rather than memorise names and dates. Programmes like Student Vote and Rep Day let students engage directly with democratic processes, while microgrants can help them test ideas for improving their communities. Municipalities can support these models or apply the same principle to their own youth engagement.
• Young people want space to discuss political and social issues constructively. They often seek discussion rather than debate but need the skills and facilitation to navigate disagreement. Local governments can encourage schools, libraries and community organisations to use free CIVIX resources, including PoliTalks and the Better Discussions handbook, and can apply those tools in their own community engagement on divisive issues.
• Young people may not know which level of government is responsible for an issue, or whom to contact within it, so municipalities should make those routes visible and easy to use. As the level of government that is closest to residents, municipalities can map reporting processes and routes for accessing support with a level of local specificity that may be difficult for provincial and national agencies to provide. Publishing plain language guidance on who does what and offering a named point of contact for young people is a cost-effective way to help them turn interest into involvement.
• Belonging should be the starting point for youth engagement on violence prevention, wellbeing and civic participation. Belonging grows through sustained involvement, not one-off consultations. Informal community spaces, or ‘third spaces’, such as libraries, community centres, skate parks and playing fields are vital, and municipalities often own or fund them. City staff trained in youth engagement and allyship can help turn these venues into places where young people feel able to contribute.
• Understanding what young people think requires more than surveys and formal consultation. The Students Commission uses a laddered approach to vulnerability, beginning with anonymous methods before moving to personal sharing, and relies on activities that surface honest views without putting individuals on the spot. Setting a room up so that people are moving rather than facing each other makes the exchange less confrontational and draws out nuance a standard focus group would miss. 

Key Themes

1. The Importance of Learning Through Participation

Ken Boyd, Director of Education at CIVIX, introduced the organisation as a civic education charity focused on helping Canadians develop the knowledge and skills needed for democratic participation. CIVIX designs free programmes in English and French and trains educators and facilitators to deliver them. Boyd contrasted this experiential approach with traditional civics teaching rooted in memorisation, arguing that students learn democratic participation best by practising it.

Kelsey Davis, Digital Literacy Project Manager at CIVIX, highlighted programmes with particular relevance for municipalities. CTRL-F builds digital media literacy, including critical navigation of disinformation and AI-generated content. PoliTalks helps students discuss political and social issues constructively and gives educators tools to facilitate constructive discussion rather than debate. Davis noted that young people are increasingly exposed to political and social issues through social media and at home, but often lack structured opportunities to discuss them constructively.

Davis added that these skills are needed beyond classrooms. CIVIX offers Find the Facts, a self-paced micro-credential on evaluating online sources and claims, as well as a ready-made slide deck and workshop guide for libraries and community organisations. Its Better Discussions handbook adapts lessons from PoliTalks for civil society leaders, elected officials and others seeking to create discussion-friendly environments and manage difficult conversations.

Davis also described Student Vote, CIVIX’s flagship programme, which runs parallel elections for students alongside municipal, provincial, territorial and federal votes. Students learn about the electoral process, research candidates in their own district and cast ballots, with the results published afterwards. Rep Day brings federal representatives into schools for structured dialogue, helping students understand democratic institutions and voice concerns directly. Davis encouraged municipalities to build relationships with local schools, noting that students “have incredible insights, and they want to be heard”.

2. Empowering Youth to Make a Difference

Boyd then introduced Civic Action, a classroom programme in which students identify a local issue, plan a response and carry it out. Microgrants will be available in autumn 2026 for school groups needing support to implement projects, and the programme is open to young people in municipalities across Canada.

The pilot’s central lesson was that young people take action when they feel agency. As Boyd put it, “There is no shortage of good ideas from young people about what they can do to improve their communities”. What is often missing is clarity on where to go for help. Municipalities can provide plain-language guidance on which level of government is responsible for different issues and how young residents can make contact.

Boyd closed by noting that action civics appears unevenly across Canadian curricula. Municipalities can therefore encourage school boards and teachers to use free programming where available and can work with young people inside and outside schools to identify local issues. Young residents can also surface problems officials may have missed and help draw attention to existing municipal priorities.

3. Core Principles for Creating Effective Youth Engagement Spaces

Christa Romaldi, Chief Development Officer at the Students Commission of Canada, described youth engagement “as the sustained and meaningful involvement of a young person in an activity beyond the self”. She introduced Hearing Unheard Moments, a project focused on preventing polarisation and grievance-based violence, as an example of engagement that builds belonging. Belonging, she argued, underpins violence prevention, mental health and wellness and civic participation.

Romaldi identified two foundations of the organisation’s approach: intergenerational co-creation and four simple pillars: Respect, Listen, Understand and Communicate. The Students Commission emphasises youth engagement alongside trained adult allies, rather than youth-led activity alone, so that young people are supported before, during and after participation.

The Students Commission focuses heavily on third spaces such as libraries, community centres, youth organisations, skate parks and playing fields. It works in places young people already occupy and co-creates what it calls safer spaces, recognising that no space is equally safe for everyone. Romaldi described this as an ongoing practice of listening and adaptation. Adult allies need training to support young people through the risks of participation and to act on what they share. The organisation’s tools include a social identity formation model and a process for grounding youth voice in evidence: study an issue, discuss how it appears in young people’s lived experiences, prioritise what to address and generate action plans or recommendations.

Romaldi’s principal municipal example was Prince Edward County, a rural county in Ontario that faces a shortage of resources for residents, particularly young people. In 2017, the county launched a collective impact project examining how it could become a better place for young people to grow up. The Students Commission partnered with the county, initially gathering young people’s perspectives through surveys, focus groups and local and regional events to understand what they wanted and felt was missing. It then worked with them to set objectives. It also helped establish a youth leadership team operating in parallel with the adult leadership team of the wider collective, with the Students Commission acting as a bridge between the two.

The county has since introduced public transit for the first time and made it free for young people, and it is now working with the municipality on a youth safety strategy. Over the past year the Students Commission has delivered training on youth safety, wellbeing and belonging to municipal staff, local employers and local leaders.

Romaldi highlighted three conditions for sustained youth engagement: time, recognition of the value of youth voice and consistency. Integrating young people into municipal systems requires adults and officials to learn and practise engagement. Partners may also need to see the value of youth voice demonstrated through the work itself. Finally, initiatives are more likely to survive funding fluctuations when municipalities continue to prioritise them.

She closed by pointing to Hearing Unheard Moments resources developed with national partners, including CIVIX. The project emphasises that everyone has value, curiosity can be practised, inclusion requires learnable skills and diversity strengthens difficult discussions. Its materials cover violence prevention, digital and media literacy, and support for adults working with young people, including educators, youth workers and public health staff.

Discussion and Closing Remarks

Asked whether the Students Commission’s approach changes with the size of the municipality, Romaldi said smaller communities can be easier to engage because relationships are often closer, while larger cities may involve more actors and coordination. The core content remains similar; what changes is the time needed to build networks and agree how partners will work together.

Responding to a policy coordinator from the Region of Durham who was preparing youth focus groups for an anti-hate initiative, Romaldi recommended a laddered approach to vulnerability. Anonymous methods should come first, followed by low-risk games and movement-based activities that gradually allow more personal sharing. Physical set-up matters: when participants move around the room rather than sit face to face, discussion can feel less confrontational and reveal nuance a conventional focus group might miss.

A final question concerned recruitment and retention. Boyd said schools help CIVIX reach young people and that microgrants can provide an incentive, but attention is often more powerful than rewards. Young people are more likely to remain engaged when their concerns reach decision-makers who are able to act on them. Romaldi added that relationships with peers and supportive adults keep young people involved, and that framing affects who comes forward: a youth advisory committee may attract those who already see themselves as leaders, while a youth group can bring in a wider mix. Where municipalities lack direct relationships, she advised working through trusted community partners. Strong Cities closed by thanking both organisations and encouraging attendees to make use of their resources, noting that all the material discussed is free and available online.

Next Steps

The Canada Webinar Series will continue in Autumn with new practical sessions for the Canadian municipalities. If you would like to suggest a topic, please contact [email protected].

Additional Resources

• North America Regional Hub: Enhancing Local Efforts to Address Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and Misogyny as Drivers of Social Polarisation and Violence, Strong Cities Network (December 2026)
• North America Regional Hub: Practical Recommendations for Canadian Municipalities Facing Anti-Government Hate and Harassment, Strong Cities Network (January 2026)
• North America Regional Hub: Foreign Information Manipulations and Interference, Strong Cities Network (February 2026)
• City-Led Youth Engagement in Addressing Hate, Extremism and Polarisation: Ten Recommendations for Cities, Strong Cities Network (February 2025)
• City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation: Leveraging Local Youth Councils, Strong Cities Network (December 2024)
• Young Cities: A Practical Guide to Youth Capacity Building for Countering Hate and Extremism, Strong Cities Network (September 2024)
• Fifth Global Summit: Youth Councils and other City-Led Youth Engagement Initiatives, Strong Cities Network (December 2024)
• A Guide for Cities: Preventing Hate, Extremism & Polarisation, Strong Cities Network (Updated March 2025)

Contact Information 

For more information on this event or Strong Cities North America programming, please contact the North America Regional Hub at [email protected].  

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