British Columbia Youth Parliament
Members sit as independents (i.e., they do not represent any political party) and vote according to their individual conscience on all issues.
They learn about parliamentary process, debate topics of interest, and plan numerous activities for the upcoming year.
During the week that the BCYP meets in the Legislature, the members elect a new Premier, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Speaker for the next legislative year.
In keeping with the parliamentary structure of the BCYP, the board of directors of the Alumni Association is referred to as the "Senate".
The Premier-elect also appoints various other officers, such as a Lieutenant Governor, a Speaker, a Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, and a Sergeant-At-Arms, among others.
Applicants must be nominated by an organization that supports youth activities (i.e., community, school, or church club or group).
Its legislation usually consisted of recommendations made to the Boys' Work Board of British Columbia ("BWBBC") (see History, below) rather than its own programmes, and occasional resolutions on social issues (such as temperance and school curricula).
Projects included annual hobby shows, athletic competitions, leadership training programmes, and work with disabled youth.
The OBP's project for Canada's Centennial was to help finance and build a church and meeting hall on a Nitinagt Indian Reserve on Vancouver Island.
In 1981, the BCYP funded and constructed a playground for children living at Skeena Terrace, a provincially sponsored subsidized housing project at Cassiar and Broadway in Vancouver.
Observers, aged 15 to 16, attended the entire session, and took part in all activities except sitting in the Legislative Chambers.
As a result of the hiatus during World War II, and the effort to rebuild the OBP in the late 1940s, no real thought was given to regional parliaments until the 1960s.
As before, a primary goal of the RYP program was to increase the number of young people who could participate in the BCYP.
Various programs came and went, often incorporating a dominant YMCA philosophy of the "four-fold" development of the physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being of the person, based upon Luke 2:52: "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."
Taylor Statten, a Boer War recruit who joined the YMCA as a means of continuing his physical fitness activities upon military discharge, was driven by his ambition to design a proper boys' work program with the Toronto YMCA, attending various national boys conferences.
However, the National Boys' Work Board considered this beyond their capability, at least during the Great War, which was being waged at the time.
Due to the program's success, Statten encouraged the involvement of the churches, in order to reach even more boys in Canada.
In 1921 an independent Boys' Work Board was established, as the YMCA preferred to take a lesser role in a movement that was diverting too much attention and resources from other Y programs.
The new organization was donated its mace, which is still used today, by St. Andrews Presbyterian (now the United Church), where Owen's TUXIS group met.
By war's end, the TUXIS movement had diminished and the National Boys' Work Board was in a weak state of affairs.
Through his efforts, the pre-war partners who sponsored Parliament (Protestant churches and YMCA) joined forces to establish a Parliamentary Convention in Vancouver to rebuild the organization.
The 1940s were an unstable period for the OBP, with a "senate" (as its sponsoring organization was called) existing in name only and a weak premier who had to be replaced soon after the 16th Session.
Key alumni and strong premiers with good cabinets carried the OBP through the late 1940s when a proper "Senate" and well founded Parliament were established.
By the 1960s the Canadian Girls in Training efforts to participate in the Older Boys' Parliament were taken up by the media, spearheaded by the Victoria Times newspaper columnist Elizabeth Forbes.
Developments in the 1980s saw Taylor Statten's dreams of 1916 come to fruition with the formation of the Youth Parliament of Canada in 1980.
While the Youth Parliament of Canada has since collapsed, after seven sessions over ten years, the WCYP continues on a bi-annual basis.
The auction subsequently evolved through various formats, to become a major annual fundraising event for Youth Parliament.
Notes Karen Hawkins Sharon Pratt Steve Wellburn Drew Olsen Shane Thomas Lindsay McCray Kerry Simmons Tony Zhao Victoria Sukra Notes • George Anderson, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Nanaimo-Lantzville • Linda Bauld, Professor at the University of Edinburgh • Robert Bonner, Attorney General of British Columbia1952-1968) • Amelia Boultbee, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Penticton-Summerland • Russell Brown, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada[8] • Daniel Burnett, KC, Media Lawyer • Susana da Silva, CBC Video Journalist • Jack Davis, politician • Stephen Doughty, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cardiff South and Penarth • Ted Field, reporter and assignment editor, Global BC • Allan Fotheringham, news reporter and journalist • Lloyd McKenzie, Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia (1974-1993); Information Officer for the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court (1993-2003) • Monica McParland, Judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia • Jim Mann, Dementia activist, 2020 UBC Honorary Doctor of Laws recipient[9] • Eric Nicol, writer • Walter Stewart Owen, 22nd Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia • Ravi Parmar, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Langford-Highlands and Minister of Forests of British Columbia • Linda Reid, 37th Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia • Shannon Salter K.C.
[10]; Deputy Minister to the Premier, Head of the BC Public Service and Cabinet Secretary • Jack Shadbolt, artist • Kerry L. Simmons, KC, Past National President, Canadian Bar Association • Hugh William Veenstra, Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia[11] • Ray Williston, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1953–1972)
