The following summary of the Open Conversations held on April 25th was captured by the conversation leader.  We want to continue the dialogue, so please use the form below to provide us with your big, blue sky ideas!

Session Convenor: Graeme Stewart-Robertson (ACAP Saint John)

Participants: Gary Sullivan, Shawn Peterson, Gail Brenner, Mathieu LeClair, Sarah Craig, Bernie Cormier, Barry Ogden, Andy Carson, Ross Galbraith, David Harvey, et al.

Main Points from Discussion:

  • Must find ways to bridge the gap between education and employment (early employment training). Many young graduates find it difficult to gain work experience in their fields.
  • Address the real and/or perceived income gap between the Saint John-area and the rest of Canada and the rest of the world.
  • Quality of life issues;
    • “Things to do” or lack thereof
    • Transportation to events (the city’s geographic size makes it difficult to commute from outlying residential areas to the core without proper public transit that offers nighttime routes)
    • The lack of a “Cafe culture”
  • Communication of cultural activities and events;
    • Who is responsible for that communication?
    • How do we foster new events or growth in the community?
  • Building on the city’s perceived attributes internally, to encourage existing residents to better appreciate their community and feel a part of it.

What Should Happen Next?

  1. Offer a Reacquaint-Yourself-With-The-Community-Week (galleries, concerts, artist’s studios would all be open and free to the public for a week so that locals can explore Saint John’s cultural landscape and understand the wealth of talent in the region).
  2. Deliver improved trades training options earlier in school and work to improve the perception/prestige of trades as a career choice.
  3. Investigate the concept of a “Voluntourism” program, both coming to and stemming for Saint John. This would allow local young people to see other parts of the world while gaining experience which they can bring back to our community, while offering the additional benefit of bringing other young people to the region to help with volunteer-based programs such as Habitat for Humanity.
  4. Improve Sport and recreation programs
    1. Improve access to recreation programs, both geographically and financially
    2. Improve league-sport opportunities for 18-24 year-olds
  5. Work to promote events for youth on a regular basis, not just seasonally (i.e. do not forget about culture and youth during the winter).
  6. Promote more youth involvement in regional boards and committees; make them feel welcome in the process of governance, not intimidated. This could take the form of creating an action plan to involve more youth from schools in boards and committees.
  7. Advocate more gender balance in community governance and in the business community. Promote female role models to encourage young girls to enter traditionally male-dominated fields such as engineering, trades and politics.
  8. Engage more youth in any Public consultation meetings, to keep them engaged in design and planning processes. Often the demographics of these consultation participants are in the 50 to 70 year-old age range and do not therefore represent a full spectrum of Saint John’s population.
  9. Create a “Green” city policy to foster innovation in new technologies, conservation and awareness. This could take the form of a ‘Green’ rewards program for youth engagement, environmental-innovation entrepreneurial funding programs, free public transit for those under 25, et cetera.
  10. Establish a ‘Planning and Design Centre’ to engage the youth and community-at-large on urban planning issues. Could be located in a storefront Uptown. This would give the youth of the region a sense of ownership in their community and in public & private infrastructure investments.
  11. A more competitive media landscape (i.e. newspapers) would benefit youth retention initiatives by offering alternative fourth-estate voices in the community and promoting more positive community narratives.

Conclusion:

All-in-all the discussion was extremely positive, but highlighted the difficulty in establishing, and re-inventing the perceptions of Saint John in the local, regional and national level. There seemed to be a general feeling that while the attention given to youth-related matters has dramatically improved in recent years, many young residents are not aware of these changes, and this communication barrier is particularly evident when addressing those youth who have left Saint John and not returned for a number of years. Communication, culture and the environment were the over-arching themes of the discussion, as many youth feel either dis-engaged with the future of Greater Saint John, removed from the cultural trends of the rest of the country, or dis-heartened that Saint John is lagging behind in environmental awareness and adaptation. Despite all of these words of concern, every participant saw great potential in the city and surrounding area, and there is a genuine sense of optimism in the community, the likes of which have not been seen in generations.