Mirrors of a Generation

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.