Youth

Register for Pre-CYM Gathering for Young Friends & Young Adult Friends

You can now register for the Pre-CYM Gathering for Young Friends & Young Adult Friends:
Pre-CYM Gathering Registration Form

You can also connect with the event on Facebook:
Canadian Young Friends Pre-CYM Gathering Facebook Event

For this Gathering, Quakers ages 13-35 will spend time together at Camp NeeKauNis from the evening of August 2nd to the evening of August 4th, when we will travel the short distance to CYM in Barrie as a group. This Gathering follows the expressed desires of Young Friends at the NeeKauNis gathering in 2017, and with the hopes of bringing even more Young Friends together.

Young Friends at the 2017 Gathering

We’re looking forward to bringing together many wonderful Young Friends and Young Adult Friends to share in each other’s light. This is a great opportunity for those who have not had the chance to visit Camp NeeKauNis before, and for those who have never been to CYM and are looking to make some connections before hand! We hope to rejuvenate the Canadian Young Friends community and continue to discern our collective path forward, asking what we want to be doing and what makes sense for us.

There will be a fluid program with space for us to engage in camp activities such as swimming, drama, games, community art creations, service — as well as activities that lead us to share questions and experiences of our Quaker faith. You are also invited to bring musical instruments so that we can share in music and song.

There is once again substantial financial support for those wishing to attend the gathering.

For more information please contact .

Epistle from Young Friends & Young Adult Friends Gathering, Camp NeeKauNis 2017 

Young Friends and Young Adult Friends (13-35 age range) gathered this summer at Camp NeeKauNis for a weekend of fellowship and fun. The following is their epistle.

The gathered Young Friends ask this epistle be read during announcements after Meeting For Worship.

Loving Greetings to Friends Everywhere:

From 29th Sixth Month to 2nd Seventh Month 2017, around 30 Young Friends from across the country gathered at Camp NeeKauNis in Waubaushene, Ontario for a Canadian Young Friends Gathering.

This gathering was organized to bring together a critical mass of Young Friends and Young Adult Friends in order to energize and strengthen our community and rejoice in our time together in worship, play, and good conversation. This gathering was planned in part so that Canadian Young Friends and Young Adult Friends had an occasion to gather while the wider Canadian Yearly Meeting sessions were holding a fallow year, and also as a pre-retreat for the Friends General Conference Gathering happening in Niagara Falls, New York.

Along with meals together, work around the camp, and daily meeting for worship, the organizers left space for Friends to offer self-directed programs as they desired. These smaller sessions sprung from the amazing diversity of gifts Friends wanted to share, from the gentle art of cat’s cradle to discussions of the role of Christ in our lives and in Quakerism; from canoeing at sunset, to the plenary workshop on the surprisingly recent history of Christian homophobia and transphobia.

Several Friends noted this year’s gathering at Camp NeeKauNis was the largest gathering of Canadian Young Friends in some years. This is with great thanks to the committee (Rachel Urban-Shipley, Jonah Egan-Pimblett, Misia Robins, David Summerhays, Jessica Klaassen-Wright and Christina Tellez) who organised and promoted the gathering, especially the leadership of Jessica and Christina before and during the event.

Photos by Ahren Klaassen-Wright

We are also deeply grateful for the support of Education and Outreach for assisting with funding for the gathering, particularly as travel costs are often a barrier for Young Friends who wish to attend. In the midst of this gathering, Friends also felt led to discuss the future of Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting and its relationship with Canadian Yearly Meeting.

Those of us at the Canadian Young Friends Gathering discerned a need and have a strong desire to focus on building our whole community of Young Friends (13-35) especially as the official body of Canadian Young Friends Yearly Meeting is on hiatus. The current hiatus was chosen because of the a small number of Young Friends attending Yearly Meeting sessions and the difficulty of filling official roles.

We are excited about re-kindling the enthusiasm and spirit in Young Friends by growing our connections with each other, both through media and regular gatherings. The gathered Young Friends recognise the role effective communication provides in building and maintaining community.

Both Reykia Fick, The Canadian Friend Editor, and Cameron Fraser, now the Canadian Yearly Meeting Secretary, were present at the gathering, and several discussions took place regarding possible ways Canadian Yearly Meeting paid staff and contractors may be able to assist Canadian Young Friends in connecting, communicating, and gathering.

Gatherings are a crucial component in maintaining and strengthening the dispersed community of Canadian Young Friends. Those of us present felt a desire to maintain and increase these gatherings. Recognising this, we encourage all Young Friends who are able to attend Canadian Yearly Meeting in Barrie in 2018.

Moving toward Canadian Yearly Meeting in session 2018 in Barrie, we discerned the following steps should be taken over the next year to strengthen the national community of Young Friends and to engage more meaningfully with the wider body of Friends in Canada:

These contacts will work with Canadian Yearly Meeting staff to facilitate this initiative.

Canadian Yearly Meeting Secretary, Cameron Fraser, has invited Young Friends into a discussion to assist in creating goals as to how he can best help Young Friends in Canada. This is an open invitation to all Canadian Young Friends who wish to be involved. The regional contacts committed to involvement in this process of goal setting. Any interested Young Friends may contact Cameron Fraser at for more information.

As we build our community, including through further gatherings, we request the continued support of Yearly Meeting’s Education and Outreach Committee. The challenges of holding gatherings are amplified for Young Friends. We are grateful for the support of all those in Canadian Yearly Meeting in dealing with those challenges and in helping us strengthen our common community.

In the Light,
Canadian Young Friends gathered at Camp NeeKauNis, 1st Seventh Month 2017

Click here for the pdf version.

Apply by April 1! Youth and Militarism Conference – April 24-26th, 2015

group1Education and Outreach Committee of CYM is hosting a conference entitled Youth and Militarism from April 24-26, 2015, for youth aged 15-35. The conference will be held concurrently in two locations: in Peterborough, ON, hosted by Peterborough Friends Meeting, and in Shawnigan Lake, BC, at OUR Ecovillage on Vancouver Island. The two conferences will share information, discussions, updates through social media. Some lectures will be broadcast live from one conference to the other.

For more information please visit Quakers Youth.