4-H Canada Citizenship Congress 2025 By Maria H.
It was an amazing opportunity to be able to represent British Columbia at the Citizenship Congress. This year, the 4-H Canada Citizenship Congress took place May 10 – 15. As the B.C. delegates had the furthest to travel, we flew out of Vancouver together May 9, arriving in Ottawa late evening. As the congress did not start until the evening of the 10th, we all got to explore Ottawa. We signed up for a guided tour of the House of Commons, walked along the river, and made our way to the ByWard market, one of the oldest markets in Canada. Then, later that evening, the Congress began.
First, a little on the background of the Citizenship Congress. The program has been going since 1972 – over 50 years! It was started to unite 4-H members across Canada and improve their leadership and communication skills through teamwork, debates, and interactions with parliamentarians and other business leaders. This year there was a change to the program – instead of planning all week for the debate like the last 52 years, we held smaller mock debates in little groups. The main event was Your Community, Your Voice, Your Impact, focusing on leadership and responsibility, as well as bringing to light everyone’s perspective and experiences. The goal was to highlight the effects of youth involvements in communities and emphasize how collaboration with experts can boost the effectiveness of youth voices.
With the beginning of the congress came the start of pin trading. This was a wonderful way to meet people from all over the country and get to bring a memoir from each of these people home. We all brought lapel pins representing our provinces as well as our individual hometowns. On top of this, we did Provincial Spotlight: at the start of each day, two or three provinces presented to everyone what was unique about where they lived and what 4-H, community involvement, and politics looked like. Some provinces made jeopardy games or quizzes with prizes for individuals who were paying enough attention to correctly answer questions.
Throughout the week we got to meet various influential people and learn about the members of parliament and the debate processes. We toured the Senate Chambers with Senator Black, where we later held our debates in the proper formal debate format. Everyone dressed professionally and spoke on matters previously researched and discussed, all of which were topics relevant to youth and future Canadian policies. Later in the week we took a bus to Madahoki Farm, where we learned about the Indigenous cultures and traditions in Ontario, and got to meet a couple of endangered Ojibwe Spirit Horses from the residing herd.
And finally, the event we had been planning for all week arrived. There were nine broad questions surrounding youth in communities, politics, and agriculture. Each group spent time together all week to discuss the question and find solutions. We professionally presented our solutions in whichever format we wished to a representative of the company that posed the question. I enjoyed this the most; the topic I spoke on was something I found quite interesting and being able to present my ideas to someone who was there to listen was a novelty. The points we shared were discussed and built upon between us and the representatives, and everyone took something away from the conferences.
The week closed with a dinner and a dance, and I was not the only one sad to see it end. I was incredibly lucky to have been granted such an amazing opportunity. The memories I made and skills I learned will stay with me for many years to come, as will the friends I met along the way.
