Basin residents who attended the 2012-2013 community consultation meetings, the Local Governments’ Committee and CBT were concerned about youth participation in the Treaty review, urging the Treaty Review Team to engage youth in the process. 

Some younger Basin residents were in turn concerned that their voices may not be heard equally alongside older generations in the Treaty review; that the dominant perspectives at community meetings would focus on grievances of the past rather than aspirations for future generations.

Responding to suggestions from Basin residents on how to connect with Basin youth, the Treaty Review Team included Twitter and Facebook in their engagement strategy. 

The Treaty Review Team sent emails with information about upcoming Treaty review sessions in or near their communities to instructors at Selkirk College and College of the Rockies who were teaching courses that might relate to the Treaty, including courses on environment, land use planning, history, and fish and wildlife.  Approximately twenty Selkirk College students attended the November 2012 community session in Nelson.  The Treaty Review Team also telephoned local high schools in a few communities and several students attended the November 2012 community session in Creston.

In coordination with Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST), the Treaty Review Team made a presentation to Selkirk College students attending the KAST Environmental Networking Lunch at the College’s Castlegar campus.  The Treaty Review Team also hosted a Treaty review booth in March 2013 at the East Kootenay Regional Science Fair at College of the Rockies in Cranbrook. Over the two days, the Treaty Review Team talked to close to 100 young people and a similar number of teachers and parents.

The Treaty Review Team worked with Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network and the Local Governments’ Committee to contract with an educator responsible for developing and delivering a classroom Columbia River Treaty unit that supports the B.C. science curriculum on electricity.