The Alberta Youth Parliament (AYP) is one of a number of

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

model youth parliaments that has its origins in the "boys work" movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is the oldest youth parliament in Alberta, and the longest continuously operating youth parliament in Canada. Its flagship session occurs every December in the Alberta Legislature, and it hosts a variety of smaller events throughout each year. It is open to all youths in Alberta who are between the ages of 15-21.

Overview

The central focus of the organization is its parliamentary program. The main parliamentary session occurs during the last week of December in the Alberta Legislature. Throughout each year, the parliament organizes events such as public speaking and debate, community service, and social events. The cabinet also meets throughout the year to plan events, discuss the operations of the parliament, and prepare for the annual winter session. The parliament's goals have evolved from the TUXIS "four-fold" program to develop the mental, physical, social and spiritual well-being of its members and all youth. AYP is a non-denominational spiritual youth Parliament which recently reaffirmed its non-exclusionary spiritual foundation. It believes that exposure to different points of view encourages tolerance of varying interpretations of religion, faith, and spirituality.

Activities

AYP holds an annual session from December 26 to 31. The focus of session is the parliamentary sittings where the members learn

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or t ...

and debate

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

on topics of interest. In addition to the parliamentary procedure and debating activities, members attending the annual session participate in various social action and devotional events. The parliament hosts smaller events throughout the year that are tailored towards aspects such as public speaking and debate, and community service. It also partakes in a miniature session every May Long Weekend. Every second year, the four western Canadian youth parliaments participate in a joint-mini session which is hosted on a rotating basis. In its off-years, AYP hosts a normal mini-session. AYP is a founding member of the

Western Canada Youth Parliament The Western Canada Youth Parliament (WCYP) is a biennial event that brings together delegations from the British Columbia Youth Parliament (BCYP), the Alberta Youth Parliament, the Saskatchewan Youth Parliament (SYP) and the Youth Parliament of Ma ...

. It was also a founding member and participant in the now-defunct

Youth Parliament of Canada/Parlement jeunesse du Canada The Youth Parliament of Canada/Parlement jeunesse du Canada (YPJ Canada) was a youth model parliament that met biennially, and later annually, in the 1980s. The delegates to YPJ Canada were drawn mostly from the eight provincial youth parliaments th ...

Organizational structure

The Executive Committee consists of the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Premier, and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (formerly known as the Alternate Leader of the Opposition). They are elected at Session by the members of the parliament and serve a one-year term. The Executive Committee is colloquially referred to as the "Front Four" and they run the parliament by appointing the Front Bench: Ministers for the Cabinet and Deputies for the Shadow Cabinet. The current Executive Committee, elected at the 102nd Session, is Sarah Clark as Premier, Ajminder Sanghotra as Leader of the Opposition, Kaydence Gillespie as Deputy Premier, and Daniel Zander as Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The current Front Bench is: Cabinet: * External Affairs Team Juliana Weber and Ramih Haque * Internal Affairs Joel Hennessy * Finance Sophia Han * Event Coordination Meghan Downes * Advisory and Consultation Team Eyasu Yakob and Dhriti Thiru * Provincial Secretary and Education Minister Samuel Best * Minister without Portfolio Ayaka Sato, Sandra Navarro Cuenca and Angela Perez Vela

History

The first Session of the Older Boys' Parliament of Alberta was first held in the Legislative Chamber of the Provincial Government in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, from December 28 to 30, 1920. The

Mayor of Edmonton This is a list of mayors of Edmonton, a city in Alberta, Canada. Edmonton was incorporated as a town on January 9, 1892, with Matthew McCauley acclaimed as its first mayor during the town's first election, held February 10, 1892. On October 8 ...

, D.M. Duggan, acted as

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. Armour Ford was elected as the first

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

. The first

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

was Edward Hunter Gowan. The

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

was James Robin Davidson. Like many of the other

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Youth Parliaments, AYP was sponsored by the Boys’ Work Board of the provincial Religious Education Council (“REC”). AYP originally met under the name “

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Older Boy's Parliament”. The Alberta Older Boy's Parliament added “

TUXIS TUXIS was a boys’ program similar to the Scouting movement promoted by Canadian Protestant churches. There are a number of variations of what the acronym "TUXIS" is said to stand for. Most commonly, it is said to stand for "'you' ('U') and 'I' i ...

” to its name in 1932. “TUXIS” stands for “Training for Service, with Christ (represented with an 'X' for the Greek letter 'chi') in the center, and you and I on either side, with no-one but Christ between us”. An alternative interpretation is "Training Under Christ In Service." It was the last of these youth parliaments to retain its “TUXIS” appellation and maintain its

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

character, but has since become a spiritual, but non-denominational organization. The REC was a coalition of religious organizations, the most significant of which was the United Church). The REC of Alberta ceased to exist in 1962. As a result, the TUXIS and Older Boy's Parliament of Alberta Alumni Society was formed. The members of this Society now provide sponsorship, including financial backing and continuity, of TUXIS. The 60th Session of the Parliament approved a resolution inviting young women to attend the Parliament and share in the companionship of TUXIS. This same year also approved a resolution to change the name from "TUXIS and Older Boys' Parliament of Alberta" to "TUXIS Parliament of Alberta." Young women first attended the 62nd Session in 1981 at Red Deer and soon entered into the leadership when LaVonne Rosvick was elected Premier for the 67th Session. The parliament celebrated its 100th Session in 2019, and its 100th anniversary in 2020; the latter Session was conducted virtually due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Unlike most other Canadian Youth Parliaments founded during the same time, AYP met continuously throughout the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. As a result, AYP has the longest uninterrupted history of annual sessions of any youth parliament in Canada. The TUXIS Parliament of Alberta voted to change its operating name to the Alberta Youth Parliament during its 102nd Session in December 2022, and the change was ratified by the Alumni Council on March 20, 2022.

Notable alumni

* Clarence Campbellhttp://www.meridianbooster.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1369015 (Former NHL commissioner) * Robert Clark (Former Alberta MLA) * Gary Dickson (Former Alberta MLA) *

Bob Hawkesworth Robert Andrew "Bob" Hawkesworth (born February 18, 1951) is a Canadian politician and a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Life and career Hawkesworth was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He attended the University of Alberta ...

(Former Alberta MLA) * David King (Former Alberta MLA and Cabinet Minister) *

Danielle Larivee Danielle Marie Larivee (born May 11, 1974) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election The 2015 Alberta general election was held on May 5, 2015, following a request of Premier Jim Prentice to the Lieutenant ...

(Former Alberta MLA and Cabinet Minister) * Murray Smith (Former Alberta MLA and Cabinet Minister) *

Richard Starke Richard Karl Alfred Starke (born June 18, 1960) is a Canadian politician who represented the electoral district of Vermilion-Lloydminster in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Starke was elected to his first term as MLA for Vermilion-Lloydmin ...

(Former Alberta MLA and Former Cabinet Minister)

References

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