Youth in the Williams Lake area will be given the unique opportunity to present their perspectives and experiences on children’s rights at a workshop this coming weekend.
A team of Simon Fraser University students will be in the lakecity presenting Shaking the Movers — the annual youth-driven and youth-led workshops are a project started by the Honourable Landon Pearson, a long-time advocate for rights and well-being of children.
“She’s been the lead on child and youth rights in the Senate for a long, long time,” said Sarah Jackman, Punky Lake Wilderness Camp Society executive director whose organization is hosting the workshops. “They have held it in several places around the country like Toronto and Vancouver and were looking for a more rural area to hold one of the workshops.”
In the workshops, youth will have a voice to consider aspects of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child.
“This one is based on the environment and climate change,” Jackman said. “The youth will be asked if they know they have rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedom? If they do, do they know what they are? And if they know what they are do they feel they are adequately expressing what they feel their rights should be?”
Adults at the workshop will be there just to observe, Jackman said.
“The students that facilitate the workshop from SFU are trained and will facilitate the workshop in a play-based environment.”
At the end the students will present to the adults what has been discussed and then generate a report that will be taken to Ottawa and be presented to Senator Pearson who will take the findings to Parliament.
“Some of the reports that have been taken to Ottawa have then been passed on to the United Nations for the Convention for the Rights of the Child and the opinions of children have been taken into consideration when they are working on the Convention,” Jackman said.
The workshop will take place Saturday, Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone interesting in attending is encouraged to contact Jackman at 778-412-9536.
Other topics covered since the workshops began in 2007 have included civil and political rights of children, identity and belonging, child rights in education, children and media, youth justice, mental health, right to play and artistic expression, child exploitation and sexual exploitation.