Meditating on the escarpment during the scavenger hunt © Anna ET
2022 Youth Summit for Mother Earth
The Youth Summit for Mother Earth will be held as a hybrid event with the option of joining virtually, or participating in smaller in-person hub activities in the areas of the four partners of the Youth Circle for Mother Earth project. These in-person events are conditional on the recommendations of public authorities in light of COVID-19.
When: September 24-25, 2022
Where: Online or at one of our in-person hubs in Toronto, Thunder Bay, Peterborough and Walpole Island
Who: Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth aged 14-20
The summit will feature workshops, keynote speakers, and plenty of group activities and challenges to get participants outdoors. Summit participants will indicate their interest to join a nearby in-person hub during registration, with the understanding that we will not be offering or covering any overnight accommodations.
Art in Nature, 2021 Youth Summit © Arlo W
Registration and Sponsorship
SPONSORED YOUTH: If you are being sponsored to participate in the Virtual Youth Summit for the full cost of $175, please register here. You will be prompted for the password that event coordinator gave you.
If you are not being sponsored to attend and would like to participate in our summit, please contact the event coordinator below to be notified when registration opens.
Subsidized registration is available here.
Please contact Christine Ambre at christinea@ontarionature.org or 416-444-8419 ext. 244 if you have any inquiries about sponsorship or questions about registration.
Art in Nature, 2021 Youth Summit © Evening M
Highlights from 2021
From September 25 to 26, 2021 environmental leaders from across the province gathered virtually for cross-cultural learning and knowledge sharing. In partnership with the Youth Council, the Youth Circle for Mother Earth partners and Coordinating Circle, this re-imagined gathering brought 92 young leaders and 12 youth mentors together.
These youth represented 54 communities across Ontario from as far as Windsor, Ottawa and Kenora, with youth identifying from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island and cultures around the world. Youth also participated in group activities, outdoor challenges, virtual discussions and youth-led sessions on nature-inspired art, story sharing, Two-Eyed Seeing, climate action, environmental policy, biodiversity and networking.
This year’s keynote, Dr. Dan Longboat – Roronhiakewen (He Clears the Sky), shared stories, inspired the summit community to come together from different knowledge systems to solve the world’s complex issues, and reflect on how we are all interconnected.
Cleanup challenge, 2021 Youth Summit © Summer W
Thank you to our Nature Network members and other organizations whose support made the 2021 Youth Summit for Mother Earth possible:
- 4imprint Canada’s One by One Program
- AWARE Simcoe
- Bancroft Field Naturalists
- Beaverton Horticultural Society
- Bert Miller Nature Club
- Blue Mountain Watershed Trust Foundation
- Birds Canada
- Brodie Club
- Carden Field Naturalists
- Credit Valley Conservation
- Durham Region Field Naturalists
- Eden Mills Eramosa River Conservation Association
- Four Seasons Conservancy
- Friends of Charleston Lake Park
- Friends of Frontenac Park
- Friends of Mashkinonje
- Friends of Minesing Wetland
- Friends of Ojibway Prairie
- Friends of the Rouge Watershed
- Halton-North Peel Naturalists
- Hamilton Naturalists’ Club
- Headwaters Nature
- Huron Fringe Field Naturalists
- Ingersoll District Nature Club
- Iroquoia Bruce Trail Club
- Kawartha Field Naturalists
- Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority
- Leeds and Grenville Stewardship Council
- Macnamara Field Naturalist Club
- Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists
- Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists
- Nature Barrie
- Nature Guelph
- Nature League of Collingwood
- Nature London
- North American Native Plant Society
- North Durham Nature Club
- Ontario Environment Network
- Ontario Horticultural Association
- Orillia Naturalists’ Club
- Owen Sound Field Naturalists
- Patagonia Toronto
- Pembroke Area Field Naturalists
- Pickering Naturalists
- Quinte Field Naturalists
- Sarah Margolius Impact
- South Peel Naturalists Club
- Southern Ontario Orchid Society
- Sudbury Naturalists
- Symbiotic Living/The Bornstein Family
- Thunder Bay Field Naturalists
- Toronto Field Naturalists
- Urban Minds
- Waterloo Region Nature
- Willow Beach Field Naturalists
This project has been made possible by:
Ontario Nature members
Miigwetch – miigwech – nya:wen – hiy hiy – nakurmiik – merci – thank you!*
*The above translations may differ from other Ojibwe, Kanien’kéha, Cree and Inuktitut dialects, and reflect the languages shared with and spoken by members in the Youth Circle for Mother Earth’s Coordinating Circle and project partners.
Over the past 12 Youth Summits, we have engaged 231 communities across Ontario.