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Youth Taking Charge!

I am passionate about many things in life, including youth issues and traveling. So when I was offered the chance to participate in a youth conference in Yellowknife, I jumped at the opportunity.

The three day (November 11-13, 2005) event was called Youth Taking Charge! It was organized by a small group of not-for-profit organizations, in cooperation with the federal and territorial governments, and brought together amazing people from the most remote northern communities of our country. Facilitators from the Arctic Council Youth Network, BYTE, Heartwood, Nunavut Youth Abroad, SEVEC and SideDoor helped to make the conference a huge success.

The goal of the conference was to allow approximately 100 youth and adults from across the Territories to:

• explore their own vision of their community's future
• share ideas for community initiatives
• identify priorities and create 'action plans' to address them
• seek out ways in which they can make a difference
• discuss the opportunities and challenges facing their communities (what is going right and what could be improved)

Four of the conference participants demonstrate their artistic talents on the Graffiti Wall.

There were several presentations that included pictures of the communities and surrounding areas. The scenery of these communities is awesome and has increased my interest in traveling in the North.

The conference also provided participants an opportunity to demonstrate their culture and talents. Throughout the weekend, we were entertained by drum dancers and throat singers as well as various other performances. I learned a few words in Inuktitut and was introduced to some of the Arctic games. I even learned a new sport that anyone can try in their own home? table climbing!!!

Fun and Games! Participants take part in a little table climbing! The object is to get all the way under and around the table without falling to the floor.

During the roundtable sessions I was able to talk to adults and youth one-on-one. These people are extremely proud of their communities and sincerely want them to thrive. However, they also realize they face huge challenges, including widespread drug and alcohol abuse, high unemployment as well as soaring high school dropout and suicide rates. In some communities, suicide rates are comparable to the highest rates in the world.

The participants get down to work.

In many instances, I was told that before the conference, people had felt alone, but after meeting other participants, they understand that there are people like them who care about their community and want to improve the lives of youth in the North. They talked about what they gained from the conference: an awareness of other communities; new networks of people and resources and new friends.

Youth and adults came to Yellowknife to discuss their community and left talking about a greater community, their Northern Community!

Conference participants take part in an exercise that teaches the importance of networking in building successful community initiatives.

I would like to thank all the participants for having the courage to travel far distances and for being open and honest. The forum was a life changing experience for me. The youth who participated in the conference opened my eyes to a region of Canada that is rarely talked about south of 60. I gained new knowledge of their cultures, their communities and the struggles they face each day. I will never forget this experience and I promise to carry forward all that I have learned in my work and in my life.

I would also like to thank the advisory committee for the excellent work they did in organizing this event. The conference was a success!

Participants work together to identify essential skills for action.

Below you will find a list of the communities that participated in the conference. In order to appreciate how far these youth and adults travelled, checkout an on-line map and see where they live, you will be surprised!

Two of the participants entertain the crowd with a demonstration of traditional Inuit throat-singing.