First Nations youth are looking to bring hope back to their communities.
The Feathers of Hope Youth Forum runs until Thursday in Thunder Bay and is hosting more than 100 youth from 91 Ontario First Nation communities.
Organizer Samantha Crowe said participants will be sharing issues and experiences from their communities, but will also work toward creating solutions and plans to bring back with them.
From health to cultural identity, the conference has five broad themes. Crowe also wants youth to address other issues throughout the event. “We want to make sure everything is out on the table,” she said.
And the issues facing First Nations youth are staggering. With a quarter of all First Nation children growing up in poverty, First Nation girls in Canada facing the highest suicide rate in the world and 117 communities under drinking water advisories, there can be a lot of reasons for despair.
Crowe said youth attending the conference have a chance not only to be leaders tomorrow but today. “We want them to have their voice. We want them to have their say and to get what they want and what they need,” she said. “It’s very exciting to see all the faces here.”
Education is another issue that organizer Julaine Trudeau is hoping to tackle. From Muskrat Dam, Trudeau said it can be hard for youth to leave the community in order to finish high school in Thunder Bay. “We lose a lot of youth in that transition because youth have to go without their families and it’s so easy to start going down the wrong path,” she said. “I myself have lost a lot of friends in that transition.”
Trudeau wants youth to leave the conference with ideas and solutions they can bring back to band councils and other community members. “I hope that they leave with a sense of hope and a sense of direction.”
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