Youth at Risk in Winnipeg

Young people facing significant barriers rarely confront a single challenge. Poverty, housing and food insecurity, disengagement from school, mental health and addictions, exposure to violence, and neighbourhood conditions can overlap and reinforce one another.

This symposium brings together community leaders, educators, public officials and practitioners to examine the challenges facing young people in Winnipeg and identify practical ways that governments, schools and communities can improve their opportunities and well-being.

The day opens with presentations on public safety and on education, followed by two panels, a working lunch with Manitoba's Minister of Advanced Education and Training, and four breakout working groups that develop policy options for governments at all levels: federal, provincial, the City of Winnipeg and school boards. The symposium is supported by a background research paper, Youth At Risk in Winnipeg: Multiple Disadvantages, Public Safety, and the Policy Agenda, by Aidan Perreault and Julia Ward. Here is the Executive Summary.

Agenda

9:00 to 9:15 a.m. - Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Representatives of Canadian Mennonite University, Massey College and Inner City Youth Alive

9:15 to 9:45 a.m. - Public Safety and Youth at Risk

• Devon Clunis, former Chief of the Winnipeg Police Service.

9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Factors Driving Risk Among Youth Panel

• Rod Murphy, Panel Chair
• Rebecca Chambers
• Mitch Bourbonniere
• Kate Kehler

10:45 to 11:15 a.m. - Education and Youth at Risk 

• John Wiens, former Dean of Education, University of Manitoba.

11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. - Education Panel

• Kent Dueck, Panel Chair
• Brian Mayes
• Sel Burrows
• Janice Zamparutti

12:15 to 12:30 p.m. - Lunch

12:30 to 1:15 p.m. - Working Lunch, Government Perspective

• The Honourable Renée Cable, Manitoba Minister of Advanced Education and Training
• Introduced by Cheryl Pauls, President of CMU

1:15 to 2:30 p.m. - From Discussion to Action

• Four breakout working groups

2:30 to 3:00 p.m. - Reports and Next Steps

Registration

FREE

Register here