Effective tools of youth engagement and ...

Effective tools of youth engagement and reconciliation. A deeper understanding of restorative practice inspiration for prepering youth to age out of care

As a Delegated Aboriginal Agency, it is our responsibility to take care of our children in a sacred way. We ensure that the rights, safety, well-being, and spirit of Aboriginal children and families are upheld, honoured and protected.  It is also our responsibility to ensure that our young people age into community with a sense of self, vision for their future, and skills to achieve their goals. The work of the youth advisory is grounded in these beliefs.

The youth advisory has created a video that captures their work, advocacy, and voice as they continue to work as advocates for change within the care system and will showcase their dynamic energy and passions as they strive to create meaningful change for the children and youth that follow them in their own care journeys.  It will also highlight the transformations they have made as individual youth as they have found their voice, developed their skills, and used their cultural teachings to become young Aboriginal leaders.  The video will be shown at the start of the presentation, then the youth themselves will talk about their personal journey on the Committee, their experiences of Aboriginal leadership development through the Committee, and the factors that they believe have aided in this transformation. 

Through this presentation, we are hoping to showcase how, by offering youth a genuine space and opportunity to instill meaningful change in an adult dominated world, Aboriginal leadership identity can emerge from a system that has been historically oppressive and silencing. Graduating young Aboriginal leaders from our care system has the potential to break harmful cycles, to set a different direction in these young people lives and indeed to set a new direction for future generations of Aboriginal youth.  It is the Youth Advisory’s goal that their experience can teach us all what is necessary to change systems that are designed to support them, and how empowerment can be the result of a system laden with beurocracy and systemic barriers through meaningful partnership and engagement