Aboriginal Youth Council Report

Transcription

1 Report 43 rd Annual General Meeting National Association of Friendship Centres

2 1 Mission Statement The Mission Statement of the AYC is to create positive change for Friendship Centre youth through inclusion, empowerment and culture by: Increasing communication; Increasing training and development opportunities; Increasing youth involvement, both internally and externally to the Friendship Centre Movement; Facilitating the development of Youth leaders; Providing awareness on issues facing urban Aboriginal youth; Encouraging and supporting the on-going spiritual, mental, emotional and physical development of urban Aboriginal youth; Involving youth at all levels of the Friendship Centre Movement, both internally and externally; and, Preserving and promoting our culture and heritage. The AYC discusses and identifies youth priority issues, including: stay in school initiatives; healing and wellness; suicide; preserving culture and heritage; cross cultural awareness; homelessness; youth leadership; employment and training; youth involvement at all levels of the Friendship Centre Movement; and more specifically, youth involvement in the decisionmaking processes of the Movement. The AYC defines youth as being between the ages of

3 2 Contents Mission Statement.. 1 Contents 2 AYC Structure and Members Progress and Activities Awknowledgements... 5 Reccomendations 5

4 3 AYC Structure and Members President Kat Fiddler Vice President Mike McKenzie Secretary Krissy Mintz Treasurer Audrey Sanderson Youth Executive Eric Klapatiuk British Columbia Vacant Alberta Jessie Johnson Saskatchewan Tyler Sayese Manitoba Brandy Fekete Ontario Josse Michel Quebec Vacant East Jenna Chisholm North Shawn Gon Progress and Activities Canadian Museum for Human Rights Spirit Panel Project September 2013 to Present NAFC s partnership with CMHR has completed the work within the selected Friendship Centres across the country that was needed in order to complete the Spirit Panels project that targets youth all over the country using artistic depictions. The CMHR is creating spirit panels that represent these youth to be used on the outside of their circular theatre in their Indigenous focused exhibit. Kat Fiddler, Jeffery Cyr, and Jack Park attended a press release regarding the partnership NAFC has with CMHR where Jeff signed a memorandum of understanding with the museum. Kat Fiddler conducted a radio interview with CBC regarding the project as well. Recently, many of the spirit panels have been revealed through the CMHR s social media. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights plans to open their doors this fall. The 4 R s Initiative October 2013 to Present The 4R s movement stands for respect, reconciliation, reciprocity, and relevance. The movement was initiated 14 national organizations, including the National Association of

5 4 Friendship Centres, representing 4 million Canadian youth through our organizations. The main goal of this movement is to bring together indigenous and non-indigenous youth and recreate a healthy relationship between these youth. AYC President Kat Fiddler, Manitoba Representative Brandy Fekete, Saskatchewan Representative Tyler Sayese, and Eastern Representative Jenna Chisholm attended a national conference for 4R s in Edmonton, Alberta this spring. The conference was held along side the Truth and Reconciliation event on March 29 th & 30 th. The conference was successful in creating a large amount of dialogue between the youth in attendance. The youth also got to experience many testimonies from Residential School survivors. The conference brought hundreds more youth into the movement compared to our smaller conference that was held in Banff in Fall Representatives from each organization also put forward an expression of reconciliation at the TRC event. This expression highlighted the importance of creating a safe dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous youth and how the 4R s Youth Movement plans to facilitate that dialogue. Currently the 4Rs movement is working on strengthening relationships and networking between 4Rs Young Leaders, increasing friendship, cohesion and social inclusion, helping strengthen local and grassroots awareness for 4Rs and helping to incorporate 4Rs into our organizations at the local level. UAKN (Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network) Vice President Mike McKenzie attended a meeting in Ottawa in November with the UAKN Secretariat and the Aboriginal Circle. Mike is currently representing the Youth to the Network Circle and Advisory Committee. Those present reviewed key documents and are currently maintaining the UAKN mandate. We will be coming up with some decisions in the near future and I will update as we proceed. National Forum on Human Trafficking On January 29 th and January 30 th, 2014 Vice President Mike McKenzie came together with national representatives including the Minister of Public Safety, Director of Public Safety, RCMP heads of Service, NAFC, and several other law enforcement agencies, services agencies, and NGO s (Non-Government Organizations) to deliver and move into our next stages of a National Strategy for Human Trafficking. With concern for under representation of Aboriginal peoples, Mike brought Aboriginal Issues to the forefront of the discussion and was surprised to learn that several RCMP heads of Service and other key officials in this process had a supreme lack of knowledge on aboriginal history. Mike shared histories, concerns, and real views expressed by youth nationally and we came to the agreement to attend to some housekeeping recommendations.

6 5 AYC Face to Face February 22 nd 23 rd, 2014 AYC held their face to face in Winnipeg, Manitoba February 22 nd & 23 rd at the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres board room. AYC was eager to meet again as we did not have the capacity to meet in the fall of The AYC was lucky to have two of our NAFC Senators in attendance- Winston McLeod and Marge White. AYC used these two days to discuss a variety of things such as redevelopment of our policies, the absence of youth on the NAFC Negotiating Committee, funding dollars, AYC initiatives, youth civic engagement, and the 2014 NAFC AGM and Youth Forum. AYC would like to thank each region and the NAFC for working together in order for us to have a space and funding for a face to face. AYC would like to stress how important it is that we meet face to face in order to properly conduct ourselves as a council. Acknowledgements The AYC would like to thank Secretary Krissy Mintz who will be aging out as of the 2014 AGM. Krissy has contributed a great deal to the AYC for many years and we are sad to see her go. We wish Krissy all the best in her future endeavors. Recommendations The AYC will provide any necessary recommendations during the presentation of this report.