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YLCC is a welcoming place that provides an empowering leadership program that allows participants to dream bigger, dare to be brave, and do more! YLCC supports staff and participants regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, transgender status, or any other protected ground under applicable human rights legislation.
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our history
Youth Leadership Camps Canada (YLCC) was founded by Stuart Saunders from London Ontario and first ran in the summer of 1993 in Sylvan Ontario for roughly 60 campers, facilitated by 18 volunteer staff, 2 volunteer teachers and 4 young founders. Its mission was to create a summer leadership development camp program that would provide high school students with tangible skills that aren’t necessarily taught in typical high school curriculum; including, public speaking, conflict resolution, goal setting, problem solving, promoting the outdoors and environmental stewardship to name a few. The camp grew every year and in 2004 it moved to Orillia Ontario and leased a former children’s summer camp. The summer camp program has grown steadily with close to 1700 campers enrolled in 2019 and has worked with more that 50 schools and over 5000 youth and educators during the spring and fall. Each year 5500 to 7000 youth are involved in leadership development programs on the property in the spring and fall, attending with school groups programs. In 2011 YLCC purchased the Orillia site. YLCC has has grown dramatically over the last 28 years to include many student leadership events. The Ontario Student Leadership Conference (OSLC) is the longest running and largest multi-day youth leadership conference in Canada with more than 2250 students and teachers participating annually in November in Niagara Falls Ontario. The Global Student Leadership Summit (GSLS) is a multi-day global leadership development summit. It was scheduled to run in April of 2020 and was canceled due to Covid. The summit would have brought almost 2000 youth from 15 countries to London Ontario. The Canadian Youth Speakers Bureau (CYSB), is the ONLY speaker’s bureau in Canada that exclusively represents Canadian youth speakers. The bureau focuses on sharing inspiring truly Canadian stories with youth and educators. We represent more than 20 speakers from diverse backgrounds and genders. Before Covid, we were positively influencing more than 100,000 youth and educators across EVERY province. Our organization is dedicated to Canada, to developing a new generation of incredible young leaders, and providing educators with the tools and resources to continue to inspire their students. Our entire leadership team, other than our founder, consists of strong female leaders. We provide incredible access to youth from a diverse demographic in Canada and also work closely with more than a dozen Children’s Aid Services across Ontario to provide affordable and valuable programs for their youth. There is no other organization in Canada that provides the programs that we do. World class events and progressive curriculum that help youth develop as leaders. In 2019 YLCC, as an organization, worked with more than 175,000 youth, educators and families across the country. We work closely with organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, the Canadian Student Leadership Association (CSLA) and many provincial leadership associations. Our motto is to always put purpose before profits.
our vision
YLCC inspires and empowers today's youth to leave a positive impact on our world. With our innovative leadership programs and dynamic staff, we instill in students a greater understanding of the short and long-term impacts of their words, choices and actions.