The Youth Summit Team was preparing their work around World Summit issues before the government's Canadian Earth Summit 2002 Secretariat had even been formed! As a result, members of the team were present at nearly all cross-country consultations in the fall of 2001 and the YST position papers were some of the first documents to be delivered to the Secretariat.

Earth Summit 2002 Canadian Secretariat

The Earth Summit 2002 Canadian Secretariat was created in May 2001. Its mandate is to to manage Summit preparations. The Secretariat reports to Environment Canada (EC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). These three Departments are co-leaders of the Summit process.

In the fall of 2002, the Secretariat organized a series of cross-country consultations looking at the progress and lack of progress in Canada to implement Agenda 21, the plan of action resulting out of the first Earth Summit in 1992. These consultations came as a surprise to many civil society groups who disagreed with the way these consultations were organized.

Before the consultations started, the YST had provided the Secretariat with a paper on how to adequately involved youth and other civil society groups in the WSSD process. The main request was to work in partnership with civil society as opposed to a consultation type approach that would not have the support of key groups. In the end, the cross-country consultations occurred, and while they were appreciated, their benefit to the process is unclear.

Reference Group and Shadow Report

One undertaking by the Secretariat was the structure established to complete a National Report on sustainable development for the United Nations, a document requested from all member countries. A part of this structure included the creation of the Reference Group composed of experts in different fields, including NGOs and other members of civil society.

Lindsay and Clarisse of the YST interacted with the federal government through participation on the Reference Group for Canada's National Report, as well as the WSSD Forum's shadow report from civil society entitled Summit or Plummet: A Call for Canadian Leadership Ten years after Rio. Section three of the report is entitled, "Strengthening Major Groups" and contains a section on youth that builds on the position paper developed by the YST on youth and decision-making.

Correspondence & Media

The YST has correspondence on several occasions to both Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Environment Minister David Anderson about issues related to the preparations for WSSD. Take a look below:

MAY 2002: Open letter to the Prime Minister requesting his attendance at the WSSD.
March 2002: Open letter sent to Minister Anderson regarding ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
April 2001: Letter to the Prime Minister introducing the Youth Summit Team

The YST also signed on to other letters urging the ratification of Kyoto, the Participation of the Prime Minister in Johannesburg, the Friends of the Earth international call to governments to reaffirm in Johannesburg the authority and autonomy of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and to state explicitly that MEAs must not be undermined by the guidelines of the World Trade Organization.

To gather attention on the WSSD and some of its key issues, the YST issued a series of Media Releases. Unfortunately, little attention was been paid by the media to the WSSD process until right before the Summit.

Click here to read the YST's Media Releases.

Position Papers

The foundations of the political work of the YST were two position papers written by team members: Youth Engagement in Decision-making, and National and International Governance for Sustainability. The Youth Summit Team also became a proponent of a position paper written by the Sierra Youth Coalition, Education for Sustainability, and is using it as a third major lobbying tool.

Click here to take a look at the Position Papers.

These documents were sent to the Canadian Secretariat, given to all members of the Canadian delegation to PrepCom II, sent to the Environmental Critics of the Bloc Québecois, the National Democratic Party and the Conservative Party of Canada, and shared with youth and non-youth at events in Canada, and internationally. They were also a good platform for the work of the YST in the International Youth Caucus for WSSD.

Coalitions for lobbying

The Youth Summit Team was a part of the following coalitions that were formed with the goal of strengthening the voice of youth and civil society within political processes. Click to learn more: