"Exciting opportunity to collaborate" between CSI and Landon Pearson Centre

King’s University College has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights at Carleton University. The MOU connects the Childhood and Social Institutions (CSI) program at King’s with the Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights. Together, they will develop and bring the annual “Shaking the Movers” workshops to King’s.

The MOU was signed virtually by Dr. David Malloy, King’s Principal, and Dr. Daniella Bendo, Assistant Professor, Childhood and Social Institutions on March 26 2021. Dr. Bendo had previously worked at the Landon Pearson Centre as the National Shaking the Movers Coordinator and drew on this connection to bring Shaking the Movers to King’s with support from Childhood and Social Institutions faculty and the Landon Pearson Centre. The MOU was also signed by the Honourable Landon Pearson, O.C and Dr. Virginia Caputo, the Director of the Landon Pearson Centre.

“I have had the opportunity to see the impact of Shaking the Movers across Canada and the difference it can make in both children (the participants) and students (the facilitators) lives who part-take in the workshops. There’s something special that happens when adults step back and young people take the lead on exploring issues that impact their lives. Childhood and Social Institutions looks forward to bringing Shaking the Movers to King’s and to watching this magic unfold here,” says Dr. Bendo.

Shaking the Movers is the name of the rights-based youth engagement consultative model developed by the Landon Pearson Centre. Shaking the Movers is an annual youth-driven and youth-led workshop series held in different regions of the country in both English and French. These workshops will provide annual ‘high-impact’ learning opportunities that enrich Childhood and Social Institutions curriculum and will represent the larger orientation of the program’s advocacy and children’s rights pillar. Students in King’s Childhood and Social Institutions program will develop and lead Shaking the Movers workshops with participation from local children and youth in London. The first workshop will take place in Fall 2021 and annual workshops will follow.

The John M. Davitsky Foundation is proud to support Shaking the Movers at King’s, as well as additional activities that will be focused on children’s rights, and child and youth advocacy.

“The Childhood and Social Institutions Program is proud to have been selected by the Landon Pearson Centre to host and develop the ‘Shaking the Movers’ events over the coming years. This is a proven national program, which extends from the life’s work of the Honorable Senator Landon Pearson. We believe it will inspire both our students at Kings and young people in our region more generally,” says Dr. Ryan – Program Coordinator of the Childhood and Social Institutions Program.

Shaking the Movers will generate greater knowledge among young people of their rights, an increased capacity to voice political opinions, to defend their interests, to engage in civil society, and to influence policy agendas. “Part of King’s University College’s larger mission is to foster public citizens and Shaking the Movers bridges that effort from students to the London community,” says Dr. David Malloy, King’s Principal.

The workshops enable children and youth to have a space to consider aspects of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in the context of their lived experiences. Shaking the Movers workshops also provide children and youth with a unique opportunity to exercise their right to engage in important civil and political processes with the assurance that their voices will be listened to and heard. 

Since retiring from the Senate in 2005, the Hon. Landon Pearson, O.C, known as the Senator for Children/the Children’s Senator, has led a Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights established in her name. The Landon Pearson Resource Centre was created with a powerful vision: every child in Canada will grow up aware of his or her rights and responsibilities and enabled to exercise them within a receptive and respectful society. The Centre is committed to facilitating opportunities for youth to increase their civic and political participation, by giving them the tools to be advocates for social change and by disseminating knowledge to educators, decision-makers, advocates and youth.