Using a qualitative case study approach, a study looking at what student co-researchers value while they are part of a research team was conducted. The three questions guiding this study included: What personal changes did student co-researchers experience? How does a Co-operative Inquiry approach contribute to youth engagement and positive youth development? And, What adult skills are evident in building a strong youth led research project? Data was collected from a Co-operative Inquiry research project entitled 62 Ways to Change the World. The multiple sources of data included: key informative interviews and a focus group with student co-researchers from 62 Ways to Change the World and all documents pertaining to the research project. By understanding what young people value while they are on a project team strategies that contribute to sustainable student-led research can be developed and shared with organizations, educational institutions and governments that are currently or are interested in conducting research with young students.

This dissertation considers the political behaviour of youth in Whitefish River First Nation. This small Ojibway community located near Sudbury, Ontario is used as a case study to inquire into the political experiences, attitudes and behaviour of youth. Rooted in Community-Based Research and Indigenous Research Principles, conversations were carried out in a circle-method referred to as Discussion Circles to assess the political behaviour of youth between the ages of 16 and 25. While this study is heavily qualitative-focused, it includes some quantitative components. These include a youth political participation questionnaire and electoral participation data for Whitefish River First nation in federal, provincial and band elections. Results demonstrate that the youth have a unique experience of politics defined by their identities, community and relationships. Their political behaviour is complex and nuanced. While they may not participate in conventional political activities, they are heavily involved in activities that are rooted in their culture and traditions. The community overall is democratically healthy and tends to participate widely in federal and provincial elections. Youth are for the most part satisfied with their lives in the community, but there are significant challenges due to the consequences of colonialism. Many of these implications affect their political behaviour. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

L’objectif de cette étude exploratoire était de mieux comprendre, du point de vue des animateurs/animatrices qui oeuvrent auprès des jeunes, le phénomène de l’engagement des jeunes dans les programmes parascolaires. Des entretiens qualitatifs ont été entrepris à cette fin avec six animateur(trices). Plusieurs obstacles à l’engagement ont été identifiés, la plupart étant extérieurs aux jeunes. Quelques actions et attitudes spécifiques des animateur(trices) ont été relevées comme importantes pour aider les jeunes à surmonter ces obstacles. De plus, la structure et le contenu du programme, ainsi que l’environnement de groupe, jouent des rôles primordiaux. Les dimensions soulevées par les animateur(trices) ont permis d’enrichir et rendre plus holistique un modèle d’engagement qui a été développé à partir d’une recension des écrits dans ce domaine. Finalement, les implications pour la formation des animateurs(trices) et pour la structure des programmes pour les jeunes ont été explorées. / The objective of this exploratory study was to better understand young people’s engagement in out-of-school-time youth development programs from the perspective of frontline youth workers. Qualitative interviews were carried out with six youth workers to this end. A number of obstacles to engagement were identified, the majority of which are external to youth. Positive dispositions towards youth by youth workers were found to be key in overcoming some of these obstacles, although program content and structure, as well as group climate also play an important role. The key dimensions of engagement the interviewees raised led to an elaboration of a current model of engagement found in the literature, making it more holistic. Implications for the training of youth workers and the structure of youth programs are discussed.

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s first call to action is to reduce the number of Indigenous children and youth in care, including keeping young people in culturally appropriate environments. While we work towards this goal, culturally appropriate resources are needed to support children and youth as evidence shows that when Indigenous youth have access to cultural teachings, they have improved physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health outcomes. Our project focused on the protective qualities of Indigenous coming of age teachings. Together with our community partner Surrounded by Cedar Child and Family Services, we worked to develop resources that inform and advocate for a culturally-centered coming of age for urban Indigenous youth living in foster care in Victoria, British Columbia on Lekwungen Territory. This dissertation begins with a literature review to provide the social and historical context surrounding urban Indigenous youth-in-care’s access to coming of age teachings. This is followed by a description of the Indigenous research paradigm that guided our work, what it meant for us to do this project in a good way, and the methods that we used to develop three visual storytelling knowledge sharing tools. Three manuscripts are presented, two published and one submitted, that reflect a strength-based vision of coming of age shared by knowledge holders who participated in our community events. The first manuscript retells the events of the knowledge holder’s dinner, where community members shared their perspectives on four questions related to community engagement and youth support. An analysis of the event’s transcripts revealed key themes including the responsibility of creating safe-spaces for youth, that coming of age is a community effort, and the importance of youth self-determining their journey. A graphic recording and short story are used to illustrate and narrate the relationship between key themes and related signifiers. This manuscript highlights the willingness of the community to collectively support youth in their journeys to adulthood. The second manuscript focuses on our two youth workshops that had the objective of understanding what rites of passage youth in SCCFS’s care engage with and how they learn what cultural teachings were most important to them. The findings suggest that when youth experience environments of belonging, and know they are ‘part of something bigger’, qualities like self-determination, self-awareness, and empowerment are strengthened. The third manuscript focuses on how we translated our project findings into different storytelling modalities using an Indigenist arts-based methodological approach. The project findings provided the inspiration and content for a fictional story called Becoming Wolf, which was adapted into a graphic novel, and a watercolour infographic. These knowledge sharing media present our project findings in accessible and meaningful ways that maintain the context and essences of our learnings. This research illustrates how Indigenous coming of age is an experience of interdependent teachings, events, and milestones, that contribute to the wellness of the body, mind, heart, and spirit of youth and the Indigenous community more broadly. Through our efforts, we hope to create a shared awareness about the cultural supports available to urban Indigenous youth that can contribute to lifelong wellness. / Graduate

An all-of-society approach is foundational for increasing disaster resilience and creating adaptive capacity in the face of disasters and climate change. Youth participation within disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk management (DRM) is an inclusive strategy to engage youth in an all-of-society approach. While this is an emerging and fast-growing area of study, ingraining social inclusion in practice is slow. Through a series of four articles, this dissertation describes two separate qualitative studies exploring youth participation in DRR and DRM through the youth perspective. Participatory research methodologies dismantle power dynamics inherent in traditional research, and they are well-suited for research on youth participation. As such, our first study used Photovoice methodology to explore youth perceptions of youth capabilities in disasters, and to understand their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples of youth participation initiatives in DRR are scattered, necessitating exploration of the process of participation in diverse contexts and types of disaster events. We conducted the second study using case study methodology to explore facilitators of - and barriers to - youth contributions towards DRR efforts in the context of local flooding, tornado, and pandemic events in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This dissertation provides insight on how to promote youth resilience, capacity, and strengths in disasters. Based on these findings, we argue that a paradigm shift in DRR towards an asset-based approach is essential to implement youth participation in practice. An asset-based approach aligns with the capability-oriented worldview in youth participation literature and theories. The complexity arises in attempting to apply asset-based lessons from the literature into the traditionally needs-based orientation of DRR policy and DRM practice. More research is needed to document youth actions in DRR and to determine asset indicators to evaluate implementation efforts. This dissertation begins an important conversation around applying an asset-based approach to youth participation in DRR through the perspectives of youth.