The Student Youth Council (SYC) was created by community volunteers, acting independently, as a community pilot project to explore ways of giving young people in Saanich a dedicated space to learn about local government, discuss issues affecting their lives and communities, and bring their concerns and solutions forward to government. This initiative was in no way sponsored, supported, or facilitated, by the Corporation of the District of Saanich, but rather was the creation of community members working independently and voluntarily to address a concern in the community – specifically that of the need for increased youth engagement.

Too often, decisions that affect young people are made without young people being meaningfully involved in the conversation, to the detriment of the effectiveness and impact of those decisions. While the District of Saanich has a variety of advisory committees with designated youth representative positions, the District has often struggled to fill all of those positions, and these advisory committees may not always provide the type of environment that supports meaningful youth participation. The Student Youth Council was developed, by community members working as volunteers, to serve as a pilot project to test a different approach: a structured, supportive and youth-focused forum where young residents could build civic skills, learn from one another, and help shape local conversations and policy.