Our Story

The Canadian Roots Exchange (CRE) was founded in 2009 by a group of Canadian youth with the guidance and support of Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux. They believed that in order to realize reconciliation in Canada, it would take an education and dialogue between youth to foster a wide understanding of Canada's rich indigeneity.

The Canadian Roots Exchange is built on the hope that we can inspire a generation of leaders who will redefine and strengthen relationships between Canada's peoples. The CRE exchanges, workshops, conferences, and documentaries are part of a national process that believes that 'exchanges unite us' as fellow Canadians. Through CRE exchanges, knowledge and intercultural understanding are being generated between youth across Canada. Every exchange is coordinated and led by young people in partnership with adult cultural and community resources. The goal is to bridge long-standing knowledge divides with our multi-faceted experiential educational model, and bridge existing cultural divides through interpersonal, dialogical sharing sessions between participants. The Canadian Roots Exchange is a youth-led, youth-focused initiative that targets Canadians between the ages of 15-30.

Every year Canadian Roots gets closer to its goal of running exchanges and field courses in Indigenous communities in every province and territory across Canada. In 2012, CRE's programs include communities in Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta. The CRE has also launched a high school exchange program, which brings together high-school students from Indigenous communities with youth from non-Indigenous schools; our first of such exchanges was between the University of Toronto Schools and Pelican Falls First Nations High School in April /May 2012. 

The Canadian Roots Exchange is federally registered not-for-profit organization.