The 1960s saw Lester B. Pearson launch a war on poverty and Pierre Trudeau promise a just society. Central to both visions was the Company of Young Canadians (CYC), a community development program sponsored by the federal government that attempted to mobilize the restless energy of Canadian youth. From 1965 until its closure in 1976, CYC volunteers marched into neighbourhoods across the nation to help locals develop community-based solutions to poverty and disenfranchisement.
Reflecting the perspectives of these young volunteers and the communities who embraced their assistance, Mirrors of a Generation tells the story of the CYC as a unique quasi-state institution dedicated to promoting grassroots social justice initiatives. It seeks to better understand why governments and social activists of the period believed that decentralized community develop ment delivered by inexperienced young people could end poverty, promote democracy, and foster more equitable economic development. What emerges is a nuanced account of the relationship between the state and civil society organizations that tracks how government funding dispersed through the CYC contributed to a broad swath of anti-poverty, Indigenous self-government, and anti-racism advocacy organizations; second-wave feminist, environmentalist, and Québécois and Acadian nationalist groups; and the counterculture and labour organizing more generally.
Katimavik, founded in the CYC’s wake, continues to organize Canadian youth participation in community service. Mirrors of a Generation reveals that despite the monumental tasks the CYC faced and the numerous mistakes it made along the way, it produced a generation of committed social movement leaders, leaving behind a rich legacy of community organizations that influence social justice politics in Canada to this day.
Table of Contents:
Figures vii
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xv
Introduction: Animated Youth and the State in the Long Sixties 3
Part One: The Company, 1965–1970
1 From Eager Beavers to Shit Disturbers: The Origins of the Company 21
2 Into the Field: CYC Volunteers and the War on Poverty, 1966–1970 50
3 “The Company of Hip, Radical, Turned-On Canadians”: The CYC and Youth, 1966–1975 88
4 The Company and the “Indian” 116
5 The Compagnie des jeunes Québécois: The CYC in Quebec, 1965–1970 169
Part Two: The Company, 1970–1976
6 The Company Is Dead – Long Live the Company of Young Canadians 205
7 Zeroing In on People: The Company in Urban English Canada, 1970–1976 233
8 Going Down the Road Again: The Company in Atlantic Canada, 1970–1976 262
9 The Sleeping Giant of Social Change: The CYC and Second-Wave Feminism 293
10 The Second Front and the Third Sector: The Company in Quebec, 1970–1976 326
Conclusion: The CYC and the Legacy of Sixties Youth
Activism 361
Notes 379
Bibliography 467
Index 501
About the Author :
Kevin Brushett is associate professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Review :
“Mirrors of a Generation represents the first in-depth examination of the CYC and the only serious attempt to understand how this organization fit within some of the most important social justice issues and movements of 1960s Canada.” – Stephanie Bangarth, King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario
