From traveling across northern Canada in 2011 to meet and learn from communities, to welcoming Stephen Ellis as our first Northern Program Lead and opening our first Yellowknife office in 2013, Tides Canada has been steadily growing our support of Northern solutions for Northern challenges.
Today, we are proud to announce and welcome Our Voices to our shared platform—Tides Canada’s very first project from the Yukon. Based in Whitehorse, Our Voices is a collective of young indigenous leaders committed to working with youth to inspire, engage, and uphold a thriving culture.
Our Voices began in December 2013 in an effort to initiate a dialogue on how young people could support other youth and stop the tragic loss of culture and the loss of lives experienced throughout the Canadian North.
A youth and emerging leaders gathering was held in August 2014 with a special focus on youth engagement. The gathering—which became Our Voices’ 1st Annual Summer Gathering—was a tremendous success attracting youth from across the Yukon, Northern British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Alaska.
The momentum continued and in January 2015 this collective established themselves as Our Voices, with the mission to provide experiential learning, training, and development opportunities for young emerging leaders.
Our Voices was introduced to Tides Canada through another northern project on our shared platform, Dene Nahjo, which is undertaking similar work in Yellowknife.
Speaking about joining the shared platform, Dana Tizya-Tramm, Our Voices Steering Committee member said, “Tides Canada’s shared platform is a strategic and intelligent model and serves as a catalyst for projects like Our Voices. It serves as a bridge over many troubled waters that can rock projects’ development. It allows our project to focus on meeting our goals while knowing that we are supported where we need it. I could not imagine a time without Tides Canada and look forward to our future success.”
Coming up in 2016, Our Voices is planning for their 3rd Annual Summer Gathering. The gathering will bring youth and emerging leaders from across the north together to celebrate culture and to learn to live life like a story, which is to influence and role model living life in a good way.
When asked what she is most excited for about Our Voices going forward, Steering Committee member Courtney Wheelton responded, “We are most excited for the never-ending possibilities that Our Voices can offer. Our Voices has the potential to be known throughout the north as the “hub” that connects young emerging leaders and we are excited to rise up to that challenge. We want to provide the opportunities and experiences that youth in the north want. Whether that is a men’s gathering, a women’s gathering, cultural activities or suicide intervention training, Our Voices wants to provide for our youth and emerging leaders.”
We are thrilled to be working directly with communities in the Yukon and have Our Voices join the Tides Canada community. You can keep up-to-date on Our Voices activities on their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter @OurVoicesYukon. To support Our Voices and their efforts to grow and nurture young emerging leaders, you can make a donation today.
