In Spring 2022, CRE hosted a virtual Indigenous Youth Advocacy Week. The Advocacy Week provided Indigenous youth with opportunities to connect with government leaders and policymakers to share their ideas, visions, and priorities for federal policies on a range of key issues, to be identified by the youth selected to participate.
This engagement and advocacy allowed youth participants to impact how senior government officials make collaborative and informed decisions and co-develop policies and legislation in the future. This provided a great opportunity for Indigenous youth to provide insight, voice concerns, and impact federal policies and programs.
Why now?
Policy decisions have impacts far beyond the rooms where they are negotiated and designed, and their repercussions are often felt most by communities who have had limited opportunities to influence those decisions.
MP’s and Senators do not have the same strength of connection to our communities and need to hear our concerns. We know what our communities need.
IYAW Youth Participant
For Indigenous people and communities, some of these repercussions include significant challenges around access to clean drinking water, education and employment support, health-based resources, and much more. Despite the extent of these impacts, Indigenous people and communities are infrequently and inconsistently consulted on policy decisions. For Indigenous youth, in particular, there are huge gaps in the ways they are consulted, considering their role as the current and future leaders of our communities.
As we consider how we are collaborating to vision a better future, it is important to amplify and create space for Indigenous youth to learn, grow, and guide the policy decisions that will impact them, their families, and future generations.
These sessions also provided guidance on solidarity and anti-racism and equip youth with the skills to meaningfully engage with elected officials and senior policymakers in a way that emphasizes the need for policies that reflect the diverse and intersectional needs of Indigenous communities.
Take a look at our final report to see how Advocacy Week went through the eyes of the youth participants!
We are excited at the success of this year’s inaugural Indigenous Youth Advocacy Week and look forward to the opportunity to continue this important work next year!
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