Youth Summit

Details

The 2021 Youth Summit for Mother Earth will be held as a series of online and offline events, with key events happening on September 25 and 26, 2021, and a follow-up virtual event in October. The offline events are conditional on the recommendations of public health authorities in light of COVID-19.

Where: Online
Who: 200 youth (aged 14–20) from across Ontario for our largest summit yet!

Highlights from 2020

From August 22 to September 19, 2020, environmental leaders from across the province gathered virtually over a series of livestreams highlighting cross-cultural learning and knowledge sharing. With our youth leaders and partners, this re-imagined gathering brought 92 young leaders and 12 youth mentors representing 55 communities across Ontario as far as Windsor, Cornwall Island and Kenora, with youth identifying from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island and cultures around the world.

Other highlights included workshops on traditional medicine, environmental policy, manoomin (wild rice) and Indigenous food sovereignty. Participants were able to participate in virtual discussions and youth-led sessions on baaga’adowewin (the sport of lacrosse and its importance to Indigenous peoples), learning Inuktitut, nature dance class, and story sharing. They also participated in challenges that gave them the chance to get out into nature and connect with one another meaningfully, while also developing their leadership and event planning skills.

We were also lucky to have Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm from Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation as our keynote, who inspired participants to seek the truth and see the world from different perspectives.