Members of Global Vision’s Junior Team Canada (JTC) are not willing to accept the Conference Board of Canada’s report card that described the Great White North as mediocre. The head of the Conference Board, Anne Golden, has already confirmed her participation at the Issues Symposium, a key highlight of this year’s National Youth Caucus (NYC), July 3rd to 6th.

Rozana Yoke-Cern Lee, a delegate from Vancouver, responded by saying, “Telling youth that Canada is mediocre is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.”

The report card that sparked significant editorial debates and media coverage across the country will be a motivating factor as 70 of Canada’s best and brightest meet in our nation’s capital for the 3rd annual NYC.

The conference, to be hosted at the University of Ottawa, is proudly presented by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Pacific and Western Bank of Canada.

NYC is an initiative of Global Vision, a national charitable organization founded in 1991 that discovers and moulds talented youth between 16 and 25 to produce the next generation of leaders for Canada.

Last week Ms. Sarumi went to an orientation meeting for the Junior Team Canada trade mission, where she met the other students involved in the program including one other participant from the Ottawa area. Also, she attended seminars that explained the program in more depth, and worked on pre-program projects and presentations, which gave her an expectation of what she will be doing once she arrives in Southeast Asia . She is excited to be going on the trade mission even though there is a lot more work involved then she expected to have when she applied for the program.

Youth who have been choosen from across the country will participate in a symposium to discuss issues such as the environment, energy, defence and national security, international development, youth voting and more.

Together they will develop a formula to “BRAND CANADA” to the rest of the world.

These enterprising youth will then be mobilized to put their leadership skills to the test to implement projects that will make a difference in their respective communities. A mosaic of community projects put into action after the 2006 NYC will be showcased and offer inspiration for this year’s class of delegates.

Outcomes of the symposium will be presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other top government officials. Four Canadian delegates will travel with Harper to the APEC Summit in Australia this fall to share the “BRAND CANADA” vision with leaders and youth delegates from 20 other countries.

To date, Rozana Yoke-Cern Lee, Vancouver, British Columbia; Jeffrey Lindquist, London, Ontario and Devin Heroux, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, have been chosen to represent Canada at the APEC Summit in Australia. The Eastern representative has not yet been chosen.

Lindquist is hoping the results from the NYC and the subsequent APEC trip will change people’s perception of Canada and its youth. “We, as Canada’s future leaders, have a responsibility to ensure Canada is at the head of its class – not just mediocre like the media and the report card make us out to be,” says Lindquist. “This symposium is the start of something big.”

Heroux is ready to answer the critic’s title of ‘mediocre’. “To me being coined mediocre is a much-needed wake-up call for all Canadians, in particular for the youth of our great country. As an active participant in Global Vision, we have been taught to think and to do outside-the-box for years. We realize that to become innovative leaders, we have to take risks,” says Heroux.

Lee says, “We are not merely waiting for a regular paycheck but are willing to take risks to make a difference, progressing on the less-travelled roads.”

The group is encouraging Standing Committees, corresponding organizations, and the media to attend the NYC in Ottawa July 3-6. As Heroux challenged, “I’d like them to attend so they can try to find anything mediocre about what we’re trying to accomplish – I doubt they can.”