Publications

Section 12. Youth and Service Preference

How youth interact with the Government of Canada needs to be understood so that current and future programs will be communicated and received effectively by Canadian youth. In addition to service preference, it is also important to understand how Canadian youth perceive and acknowledge the role of the Government of Canada

In 2002, Communication Canada conducted focused surveys for communication with Canada's citizens through the Listening to Canadians initiative. These surveys provide a more comprehensive understanding of the information needs of both the overall Canadian population and Canadian youth from the ages of 16 to 24¹. These surveys aim to be aware of the ways in which Canadians interact with the Government of Canada through an assessment of government communications and about usage and preferences among different vehicles of communication.

12.1 Perceptions of the Government of Canada

The following data has been compiled from the Listening to Canadians study published by Communication Canada in 2002². The study was used to measure the opinion of Canadians on a wide range of issues. The following section provides information on survey responses that were broken down by age categories regarding the Government of Canada's priorities, overall performance, service quality, and attributes of service.

Perceptions of Priorities and the Role of Government

When asked what issues the Government of Canada should focus on most, the top four issues were health care, economy, jobs, and national security. The following table indicates the top five priorities by age group.

Table 7: Top Five Priorities by Age Group as a percentage, 2002
	Total	18-24	25-34	35-54	55+
Health Care	35	28	30	36	40
Economy	13	9	13	14	13
Jobs	8	6	8	9	8
National Security	6	4	5	6	6
Education	6	15	9	5	3

Source: Communication Canada, Listening to Canadians: Winter 2002.

Health care, with 35% of total mentions, was once again at the top of the public agenda. This spike was driven in part by heavy media coverage in January 2002 of events related to health care, such as the Mazankowski report, the premiers' conference and the lead-up to the Romanow report.

Young Canadians think the Government can make a positive difference in a range of areas. Promoting Canada internationally (65%) and protecting the environment (63%) are the top two preferred roles for the Government of Canada³. Young people also think the Government can make a positive difference in other areas, many of which affect them directly. It appears that they envisage a meaningful role for the Government in solving problems that concern them.

The areas where a majority of young adults think the Government can make a positive difference to a great extent - but where a majority of older adults do not think it can make a difference - are child poverty, youth unemployment, youth crime, and crime generally.

Perceptions of Government Performance

Survey respondents were asked to rate the performance on the Government of Canada based on a 7-point scale where 1 is terrible, the mid-point 4 is neither good nor bad, and 7 is excellent.

Table 8: Government of Canada Performance Ratings by Age Group as a percentage, 2002
	Total	18-24	25-34	35-54	55+
Good	30	37	32	27	28
Neither	35	31	36	35	36
Poor	35	32	32	37	36

Source: Communication Canada, Listening to Canadians: Winter 2002.

Young Canadians give high overall performance ratings to the Government of Canada with 37% rating performance as good, compared to only 30% for older Canadians. Fewer young adults rated performance as neither good nor bad and poor at 31% and 32% compared to 35% for both categories by older Canadians.

Perceptions of Service Quality

Survey respondents were asked to rate the performance on the Government of Canada based on a 7-point scale where 1 is terrible, the mid-point 4 is neither good nor bad, and 7 is excellent.

Table 9: Overall Service Ratings by Age Group as a percentage, 2002
	Total	18-24	25-34	35-54	55+
Good	48	53	51	45	49
Neither	29	31	29	30	29
Poor	22	15	20	24	21

Source: Communication Canada, Listening to Canadians: Winter 2002.

Young Canadians give the highest ratings for overall service quality with 53% rating the Government of Canada's performance as good, compared to only 48% for older Canadians. Young adults were also the least likely to rate service quality as poor with only 15% compared to all Canadians at 22%.

Perceptions of Service Attributes

Using the same 7 point scale, survey respondents were asked to rate several dimensions of service delivery. Table 10 provides the rating given for being innovative, being accessible, being reliable, and being respectful by age group.

Table 10: Rating of Service Attributes by Age Group, 2002
		Total	18-24	25-34	35-54	55+
Being Innovative	Good	35	46	37	33	34
	Neither	37	35	38	38	34
	Poor	26	18	23	27	28
Being Accessible	Good	40	51	43	37	39
	Neither	27	25	24	29	29
	Poor	31	24	32	33	30
Being Reliable	Good	41	48	45	38	41
	Neither	31	31	31	32	30
	Poor	27	20	23	30	27
Being Respectful	Good	52	65	60	48	48
	Neither	27	21	24	29	29
	Poor	20	14	15	22	22

Source: Communication Canada, Listening to Canadians: Winter 2002.

Young adults consistently rated service attributes higher than older Canadians. Among service attributes, the youngest adults rated respectfulness and accessibility most positively while rating innovation least positively.

12.2 Communication with Youth

The Government of Canada faces challenges in raising youth awareness and providing relevance to the information they communicate to young adults. The public opinion findings in this document were drawn from surveys, focus groups and distillation of results from the 2002 Communication Canada Survey, Focusing on Young Adults⁴. The report explored Canadian youth attitudes on core indicators such as optimism, government priorities and performance, familiarity with government activities, and communications preferences for young adults aged 16 to 24 years.

Although young adults are not a uniform group, they do share certain attitudes and beliefs. They are positive about the future and the Government, and think the Government can make a difference in their lives. However, they are not engaged on government issues, do not know much about the Government, and say government messages do not get across to them. In other words, a certain disconnect exists between the Government and young people in their day-to-day lives. Overall, while reaching them is a challenge, young adults are open and receptive to government communications.

12.2.1 Awareness

On a range of issues, young Canadians say they are less familiar with government initiatives than older Canadians are. Young adults express a high degree of familiarity with government initiatives on only three issues - education, health care, and crime, compared with seven issues in the case of older adults. Education is the one area where young adults are more aware of government initiatives than older adults.

---

Figure 12-1: Familiarity of Government Initiatives by Age Group, 2002

Source: Communication Canada: Listening to Canadians: Focus on Youth, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002

12.2.2 Relevance

There is a perception among young Canadians that the Government is not as relevant in their lives as it could be. They see the Government as out of touch with them. Seventy percent do not think the Government understands what they want. Furthermore, when asked if the Government does a good job of communicating its programs and services for young adults, 62% of them say "No"⁵.

Some specific communication initiatives, such as the Youth Employment Strategy, have proven successful. According to an Ipsos-Reid study conducted in 2000, there is evidence that all of the Youth Employment Strategy has had a positive impact on awareness and attitudes toward government initiatives in the areas of access to education and youth employment."⁶

---

Figure 12-2: Communicating with Young Adults, 2002

Source: Communication Canada: Listening to Canadians: Focus on Youth, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002

---

Figure 12-3: Understanding Young Adults, 2002

Source: Communication Canada: Listening to Canadians: Focus on Youth, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002

12.3 Reaching Youth Through Effective and Useful Communication

When communicating with young adults in Canada, the Government must understand not only what youth want to know but also how to successfully communicate using images, style, and messages.

12.3.1 What Youth Want to Know⁷

Government communications must reflect the needs and interests of young Canadians: they need to know the Government is providing services that are relevant and of benefit to them.

Communication Canada surveys conducted in 2000 show that the topics young adults most want to hear about are finding a job, acquiring skills and learning, and health care. More recent focus groups conducted in 2001 suggest young Canadians also want to hear about national security issues, Canada's role in the international conflict, and race relations. Indeed, in the aftermath of the events of September 11, survey data show that national security has emerged as an important issue, second only to health care as the top-of-mind issue among young adults. Young Canadians' other key concerns are education and the economy.

Focus groups suggest that young Canadians are very concerned about possible racism and discrimination facing visible minorities in Canada in the aftermath of September 11 and want the Government to play a role in promoting tolerance. Young Canadians strongly value cultural diversity and are more likely than older Canadians to rate cultural diversity as an important factor contributing to a sense of Canadian identity (75% versus 67%).

---

Figure 12-4: Top-of-Mind Issues (Post 9-11) by Age Group, 2002

Source: Communication Canada: Listening to Canadians: Focus on Youth, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002

12.3.2 How Youth Want Information Communicated

Focus groups testing indicated that young adults want a Government whose image is:

• Innovative and forward-looking - that embraces change.
• Approachable and accessible - that has a human face.
• Honest and transparent - that acknowledges there is room for improvement.

Young adults indicate that government advertisements must grab their attention. They want advertising that appeals not only to their intellect but also to their emotions by using, for example, music, striking visuals, and humour. At the same time, young people say they want government ads to be genuine.

To achieve authenticity, young adults suggested using real people their age showing how a government program or service has benefited them personally, involving young adults in developing communications, and associating messages with individuals or groups they admire (use credible spokespersons). However, they consider one-time ads designed to be "cool" as phoney. Figure 12.5 shows the influence of media and primary sources of information.

In a research study conducted in 2002 by HRDC, youth-at-risk indicated that their most preferred mode of access was in person, Internet and telephone. However it was found that in person services needed to be more user-friendly. There was also a keen interest in a centralized listing of information about all programs and services in the community pertaining to the needs of youth-at-risk⁸.

12.3.3 Where Youth Find Information

Young Canadians are more likely than older Canadians to say that communications media - television, newspapers, the Internet, radio, and mail - are influential in shaping their overall impression of the Government of Canada.

---

Figure 12-5: Media Influence by Age Group, 2002

Source: Communication Canada: Listening to Canadians: Focus on Youth, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002

The relative influence of the Internet on young adults is particularly strong. When asked about their primary source of Government of Canada information, young adults accord the greatest prominence to the Internet.

Young adults are on the cutting edge of the Internet revolution. They are the most wired of demographic groups; over eight in ten have Internet access, compared to over six in ten older adults. Of those who have Internet access, an equal percentage of younger and older Canadians (slightly over half) had visited a Government of Canada website in the three months before the most recent Communication Canada survey.

---

Figure 12-6: Primary Sources of Information from the Government of Canada, by age, 2002

Source: Communication Canada: Listening to Canadians: Focus on Youth, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002

12.4 Communicating Conclusions

To communicate successfully with young Canadians, it is important to:

• Communicate about what matters to them, such as race relations in the post-September 11 environment;
• Break through the advertising clutter and grab their attention;
• Be genuine in ads by, for example: using spokespeople young adults admire; telling real stories from people their age; and involving them in the conception, design, and production of ads;
• Project an image of the Government that is consistent and sustained: it takes time and repeated visibility to ingrain a credible image; and, finally
• Use a variety of media, with an emphasis on the Internet.

Overall, the conclusion of the Focus on Young Adults was that the Government must do a better job of choosing what it communicates to young adults, how, and where.

1 Both of these surveys are conducted and published by Communications Canada. This section has been solely sourced from two of the Communications surveys: Listening to Canadians, Winter 2002 (Catalogue No. PF4-7/2002-1) and Listening to Canadians: Focus on Young Adults, 2002 (Catalogue No. PF4-4/9-2002). For further information on methodology, or to view copies, please see: [http://www.communication.gc.ca/survey_sondage/index_e.html]

2 This section has been sourced from: Communications Canada. Listening to Canadians. Winter 2002. Catalogue No.: PF4-7/2002-1, ISBN: 0-662-66460-4.

3 Refer to the publication by Communication Canada for further detail and full data listings. Listening to Canadians: Focusing on Young Adults, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002.

4 The remaining sections have been sourced from: Communication Canada. Listening to Canadians: Focusing on Young Adults. January 2002. Catalogue No.: PF4-4/9-2002, ISBN: 0-662-66255-5.

5 Communication Canada. Listening to Canadians: Focusing on Young Adults, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002.

6 Quantitative Post-Test of HRDC Youth Advertising Campaigns: Final Report, p.31. Submitted to: Human Resources Development Canada (now HRSD), January 2000 found in Listening to Canadians: Focusing on Young Adults (Communications Canada): 2002: PF4-4/9-2002.

7 Sources for this section can be found from: Communication Canada. Listening to Canadians: Focusing on Young Adults, 2002: PF4-4/9-2002.

8 This paragraph has been sourced from: Youth at Risk - Qualitative Research, Human Resources Development Canada (now HRSD) and Sage Research, April 2002.