My Thoughts on the JTC and Global Vision
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My status promised to write about this topic for well over a week, and I’ve finally had some free time to spare. I’m going to try and speed through this as quick as possible, but with as much detail as I can possibly give.

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I do hold very positive feelings about Global Vision. I think it’s one of the greatest organizations in Canada right now. There really isn’t as much opportunity for young people these days to go out and make an impact on their nation. We never had the glory of being apart of the “Greatest Generation”. We never had a war to fight, an economic crisis to suffer through, a prosperous period of Canadian ingenuity, or dominance in international affairs. It seems as if Canada has been asleep for at least the past 5 decades (and I’m not blaming the baby boomer generation). I really think Canada’s time is coming, and while other major powers are declining in stature, Canada is one of the few to experience economic growth and an expanding population simultaneously. We truly are making an effort to make a name for ourselves, and that’s one of the things I’m optimistic about in my lifetime.

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Global Vision has a role to play in preparing our generation for that. I know most people in my generation hate to admit it, but we have a horrible work ethic. We don’t like the jobs we’re given and we have more time for television and the internet than we do for family or pulling our weight in society.

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However I feel that there are some things Global Vision should fix in order to ensure it continues to play a role in Canadian society. I have talked with many other people from the National Youth Caucus, and many of them (perhaps they wish to remain anonymous, so I will not mention names) are in full or partial agreement with me on this topic. Feel free to voice your opinions.
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A) Global Vision has some regional bias within it. I think it’s dead wrong that Ontario, which makes up 33% of the population, is only given roughly 10% of the representation at the Summit. I’m not sure on the numbers for the NYC, but I’m almost certain they were less than they should be as well. Now I don’t expect numbers to be exact to the percentage point, but there are other places in Ontario than just Toronto-Ottawa-London. Hamilton-Niagara, a region of over 1 million people, had me, as their only representative at the NYC. PEI (I certainly love you guys) is smaller than a suburb of Hamilton, yet they were given more representation. If it weren’t for the fact that I was contacted by a friend in Toronto about the GLC, then Hamilton-Niagara would have had nobody. I’m sure there are other instances of this for other parts of Canada.
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B) Junior Team Canada fails to take into consideration this said regional bias. It may sound like I’m simply making excuses for my failure to raise $5500 for China, but it’s dead true. The “if I can do it, you can too” attitude just doesn’t cut it for someone who had to live in Canada’s poorest major city all their life. Hamilton’s poverty rate hovers around 20%, which is higher than some third world countries. City blocks look more like the low life you find in the movie Blade Runner than in the shiny pamphlets that advertise tourism in Canada. I was raised in this said blue collar climate my whole life, and attended a high school where not only students were arrested for drug trafficking, but teachers as well. Hamilton really had the potential to be the richest city in Canada, and it all fell apart. Now Hamilton’s manufacturing base is shrinking at an unprecedented rate (which is wrong) and instead its “intellectual industry” is increasing (which is dead wrong). Families have to lose their jobs over this? You’ll notice Hamilton is a stronghold for the NDP and the Conservative Party (a rarity for major cities; Hamilton acts more like a Western city than one from Ontario). This is purely out of the average Hamiltonians belief in protectionism and suspicion of government – that is, fear of the markets, and the belief to regulate and control our industry so it’s not bought off by Americans or packed up and moved to Columbia. This anti-foreign investment view is popular in Hamilton, and perhaps explains one of the reasons I had such difficulty in making any impact, even with the higher up people I knew on a personal level. This also leads to my next point.
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C) Many of the individuals I knew expressed doubt over the legitimacy of Global Vision. I clearly know it’s a legitimate organization. I got to meet Stephen Harper for the third time with it, and spent a fantastic week in Ottawa with some of the greatest people in Canada. But my personal experience with Global Vision means little to strangers or to those who feel the website is not professional enough. I’m serious. I was told Global Vision is a scam because the website is a mess. Now I don’t hold any PhD in Website “science” so I don’t have much to recommend on this. Or it might just be the Hamiltonians natural suspicion in anything that looks too good to be true (like the plenty of deals we were promised by the Federal and Provincial governments. Just look at the Caledonia mess!). Needless to say, I think the website could use a revamping of some sort. The change for MyGlobalVision is brilliant, and I think you have all done a marvellous job. The main website just needs a tad bit of a touch-up. More needs to be included about our government and corporate sponsors (this ensures the sense of legitimacy we are all trying to build). MGV is a pool of talented individuals, I’m sure one of them knows how to work Dreamweaver or Fireworks to make a professional website (it could use some Flash). Other individuals (these were not strangers, but good friends) have expressed doubt over an organization that forces its participants to raise money for them. Now I understand Global Vision can’t pay for everyone out of its own pockets, that wouldn’t make much fiscal sense. But there are other organizations out there that are able to perform similar functions without demanding such high amounts. And take into consideration Point B, not everyone has the same opportunity to raise money as everyone else. It is a harsh reality of life that equality is a myth. Not everyone is equal. Not every region is equal. Not every city is equal in the opportunity it provides. Try explaining to the Central African Republic that they just need to become more ambitious, and all their problems will disappear. This goes to my next point:
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D) There needs to be a way for Global Vision to raise money through alternative means. And if no alternative mean is found, then there needs to be a way for Global Vision to provide resources. I was left in the dark for raising money. I did inquire a lot, but most of my inquiries were given inadequate answers or were not answered at all. We aren’t given any information, contacts, spreadsheets, sample letters, or leads. I was just told to talk to the Chamber of Commerce or to the Mayor, both of which led to failure. It may be easier to find leads when there are many people in the same city working together with various backgrounds. I’ve noticed that many people at the NYC were Commerce students. I’m a bloody Film student! What can I do? Be homeless for a week to raise money? (Actually I never thought of that). Right from the start I was basically guaranteed a spot on the sidelines, which just adds to the depression of Hamilton having no voice as it is. Back in my cadet days, we raised money a different way. We had tagging days. We would stand outside, in our uniforms, at stores, and basically ask for money. And it worked! That requires more than just individual incentive however. That requires a whole host of legal technicalities that only the leadership of Global Vision could deal with (or I could have done it illegally, but I’m not taking that risk, thank you very much). Some cadets rose over $2000 from just 4 tagging shifts. Even the girl guides sell cookies and the boy scouts sell…apples? But they still manage to end their years in the green, and without the pressure. Collectively, one cadet squadron could raise about $30,000 per tagging season (about 2 seasons in a year, each season consisting of 4 tagging days). This money we would raise would pay for our trips. We got to travel all over North America, hundreds of us at a time, because of that money we raised. Now travelling around North America and going overseas to China are two different things, I can accept that difference. But there must be a way for Global Vision to collectively (and I emphasize that word) raise money for the organization as a whole. We can all work together on raising money. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression one bee can make a sting, but 1000 bees can kill an elephant. Now I’m not proposing we kill elephants, but we can certainly do a lot more work by using the team than by sending us off on our own. The latter approach is almost certain to have a worst ending than The Village (awful movie).
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This is the main constructive criticism I have to give so far. I don’t want this to be seen as Global Vision bashing, or as me giving up on the LTR. For one, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I love the organization and think it has the right idea. I just think it needs a bit of a shake-up to ensure it continues to play a role in Canada. I would sum up my experiences as 70% good, and 30% bad. That’s still a majority of good, but leaves plenty of room for improvement. And again, I am not “giving up” on the LTR. My whole life I’ve been taking the LTR and my goal of becoming an Officer in the Canadian Forces only reinforces that. All my life I felt I could get out of this slum, and make a true rags-to-riches Canadian Cinderella story. That remains my goal, and I will never give up. My bad experience and “failure” to raise money for this trip certainly discourages one, but I’ve had taller mountains to climb, and I don’t believe this will set me back.

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I wish all of you who are intending on going to China the best of luck. I know many of you will succeed, and I am very proud of you. I also wish everyone who is going to the Summits good luck, and I know you will serve your country with utmost pride and dignity.

Response to Constructive Criticism and a Few Thoughts of My Own
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I’m certainly glad that this topic was opened to discussion as some great points were brought up. I would however like to debate a few of the ideas and perhaps get an explicatory response and hopefully some more opinions from other MyGVers.
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A) Regional Bias / Proportional Representation:
First of all, I am a JTC graduate from Prince Edward Island (pop. approximately 140,000). I feel very fortunate to have been chosen to take part in 2 missions. Both years yielded diverse teams representing different regions of Canada.
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2008 Mission to Peru: 7 ON / 3 BC / 3 SK / 2 AB / 2 NFLD / 2 PE / 1 NS / 1 MB / 1 NB / 0 PQ /
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2009 Mission to Ecuador / Panama: 7 ON / 7 BC / 2 NS / 1 SK / 1 PE / 1 PQ / 1 NB / 1 NFLD / 0 AB / 0 MB
The author’s points are not lost on me and I would offer 3 main responses to them.
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Obviously, I feel very fortunate to have been chosen to “get on the bus” and represent my tiny province but the argument that there are different regions in Ontario besides “Toronto-Ottawa-London” works the same for Prince Edward Island (the majority of the delegates from PEI come from the Charlottetown area). Notice that Quebec, Canada’s 2nd most populous and largest province geographically has had little representation.
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Taking into consideration that Global Vision is a not-for-profit, far-reaching marketing campaigns are not feasible and most of the time GV relies on phone calls and flyer distribution leading up to the Global Leaders Centre event. As the author mentioned, word of mouth and referrals plays a huge part in the process. I was delighted to hear of GV’s success this year in reaching more remote regions (Northern Ontario and our Territories). More and more people from diverse regions are getting to hear about GV and MyGV is playing a huge role. I hope this momentum continues so that we can field ever more representative Junior Team Canadas.
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Which leads into my third point – team selection has many different variables. One important variable is the need for a diverse team representing the regional particularities of the world’s second largest country. It also might depend on where the team is going. For example, the extractive industry is one of Canada’s most important areas of expertise brought to South America. This means that delegates from Ontario (notably Toronto) and BC were often expected to push the large mining companies headquartered there for partnerships. These delegates were often successful and therefore were a larger contingent on these missions.
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B) JTC’s Failure to Recognize their Regional Bias

After working in the GV office, I can say that this is not true.
Everybody gets frustrated. I spoke with many delegates about sponsorship hurdles and everybody has different challenges.
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Those from larger centres may be competing against recent Federal, Regional or Provincial Trade Missions. The large companies may get hundreds of solicitations a day. They often have their own international trade consultants on payroll.
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Companies from smaller regions like my own in Prince Edward Island may only have national aspirations at best. They may only see Peru as a dangerous location versus an investment opportunity. When I asked if I could investigate investment opportunities the chuckling response would often be “I’m not sure exactly what you think we have in terms of investment capital?”
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“The “if I can do it, you can too” attitude just doesn’t cut it for someone who had to live in Canada’s poorest major city all their life.”
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I have to wonder how Canada’s poorest major city (9th most populous) compares to a rural Maritime region in terms of wealth.
The “you can too” story that inspired me personally was one about a girl from a small Newfoundland community. She told anyone who would listen about her quest and raised all her money in her hometown through little donations at a time. A good mix of corporate and community sponsorship is usually the way to succeed but one always has to be flexible.
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“Now Hamilton’s manufacturing base is shrinking at an unprecedented rate (which is wrong) and instead its “intellectual industry” is increasing (which is dead wrong).”
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I see nothing wrong with the “knowledge economy” and perhaps that has to do with where one grows up. Prince Edward Island used to rely heavily on its traditional primary industries of agriculture, seafood, and tourism. I am happy to see the Island diversifying its economy into IT, Aerospace, BioScience, and Renewable Energy (all requiring a fair amount of intellectualism). These industries, while still infant, can attract more jobs in manufacturing and construction and can also complement our traditional industries. Our BioScience cluster is making many advances in agriculture and aquaculture, allowing us to pursue them in more sustainable ways.
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A Trade Mission to China, a country full of engineers and scientists, would be much more interesting to Island companies than the resource-fueled economies of South America. As well, our university and colleges would be very interested in attracting more international students. I would highly recommend to anyone taking a shot at a Trade Mission opportunity to get to know the other aspects of your local economy. I know that I sure learned a lot in two summers.
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C) Global Vision Legitimacy

I definitely agree that the website has a long way to go. While I am also not a website designer, I feel that the saying “less is more” would be my recommendation. JTC has made a point of using as much media as possible each year and now has an overwhelming amount of content. With the introduction of MyGV, students already involved with Global Vision should have access to all the content but I think the website should only contain the best video that communicates what Global Vision does.
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The website is super busy, trying to be all things to everyone – From a news and blog synchronization to a holding ground for pictures and video.
In my opinion, GlobalVision.ca should be one thing – an impressive marketing message to future students, and future partners about what kinds of things youth can accomplish with the organization.
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It is unfortunate that a person’s first impression of the organization could be a poorly worded blog about a student’s first experience at a Global Leaders Centre. Most people will not spend much longer navigating a busy website to find more exciting content.
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Direction to MyGV is a next step but I think that tightly controlling the first impression is a good idea. We have to think about why people are going to the website. My guess would be to learn more about the organization. Therefore, I don’t believe anyone needs MyGV updates on the main website. If they know about MyGV, they will go to that site for their updates.
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“Other individuals (these were not strangers, but good friends) have expressed doubt over an organization that forces its participants to raise money for them.”
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In my case, it was actually my dad that was the least supportive for that very same reason. It is however, the only way for Global Vision to achieve its ambitious goals as a not-for-profit. After doing it twice, I can tell you the immense advantages it has afforded me. From networking with my province’s leaders, to organization and sales skills, to the great satisfaction knowing that it was my perseverance that allowed me to travel and represent my province. It is hard to put a price on these experiences.
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D) Alternative Means for Global Vision to Raise Money

Again, this is where having experience in the GV Office was invaluable. Besides organizing local, national and international events, dealing with students, faculties, and companies, and running a website, Global Vision also has to be applying day-in-and-day-out for new grants and their own sponsorship to be able to operate.
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GV has no revenue streams besides doing exactly what it asks each of its delegate to do to participate in its programs.
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Remember that GV relies heavily on volunteers (usually loyal grads) to help organize events because, to be honest, you can easily count on one hand the number of people tirelessly working to make GV operate.
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If anyone has any ideas on how to provide GV with some sustainable revenue, I would encourage you to share it.
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E) Information, Contacts, Spreadsheets, Sample Letters, and Leads

I’m super surprised that nothing was provided, as I worked personally on providing exactly these items last summer and left them in the care of this year’s team. If you caught a GV office member at a particularly busy time then that could have been the reason.
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However, I would encourage anyone that is still looking for these items to contact a GV office member about it. If that fails, please contact me and I’ll dig around my inbox for them.
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Thanks for reading this far and if you have an additional opinion, I hope you will share it too.

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