Youth rights, culture preservation discussed at Northern workshop

The Students Commission of Canada is hosting workshops across the country ahead of the Canada We Want conference to be held near Toronto later this month.

On Wednesday, the Northern Voices workshop saw a variety of groups participate in Iqaluit.

"We've come here to do a listening session with young people in the community to hear what they think about topics that are important to them," said Sharif Mahdy, executive director of the Students Commission of Canada.

In the morning, youth participated insmall group discussions and tackled issues likewhetherthe rights of a child are being met in the community, and how culture should be protected.

"There are so many Inuit youth facing struggles with culture and how their rights are being protected.I felt that was an issue in our community, so I wanted to take part," said Alika Komangapik, 16.

When talking about how food is marketed to youth, she said advertising creates an attitude of wants rather than needs and with the high prices of food that becomes an issue.

• Food in Nunavut still costs up to 3 times national average

Alassua Hanson, 16, spoke about wanting to see changes in Nunavut when it comes to youth rights.

"I really love being involved as an Inuk youth in Nunavut, so I'd really like to help my community and territory."

They talked about differences in lived experiencesincludinghow even though situations might be similar, the outcome for the youth could be different.

The information gathered from the workshop will be analyzed by youth attending the national Canada We Want Conference.

Youth will use the data to make policy recommendations that caninform decision makers in governmentsand try to influence how they implement policy, Mahdy said.

Similar workshops will also be held inHalifax, Winnipeg, Kingston, Montreal, Saskatoon and Golden.

The 2018Canada We Want conferenceis about looking toward the next 150 yearsof Canada and making positive changes. It will be heldFeb.28 to Mar.5.