Seechange has launched a crowdfunding campaign for our new Initiative ‘Guiding Youth To Thrive’.
The community-led initiative, co-designed with Inuit youth, facilitators and leaders, will support youth in Nunavut by fostering intergenerational healing, sharing traditional Inuit knowledge, promoting climate adaptation and mental health, strengthening pathways to overcome their challenges, and more.
Inuit youth in Nunavut are facing a mental health crisis. The territory has the highest suicide rate in Canada and one of the highest globally. The root causes of mental health concerns include historical and intergenerational trauma as a result of colonization and ongoing marginalization, social isolation, the loss of culture and language, as well as the impact of climate change. Young people in Nunavut told us that they urgently need greater support, social connections and resources to improve their wellbeing. Building on our work and partnerships with Inuit organizations over the last five years in Nunavut on tuberculosis and intergenerational healing, we are launching youth programming.
Please help us reach our $100,000 goal by making a donation and sharing the campaign with your networks.
We did a soft launch of the crowdfunding at A Night for Inuit Nunangat, co-hosted with Dorset Fine Arts/West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Toronto on Oct 17th at their special gallery showroom filled with Inuit art.
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A special thanks to award-winning artist and producer Sylvia Cloutier who joined us just off her Greenland tour, for her moving drum performance and stories about Inuit culture and the deep needs of Inuit youth who deserve support and resources, and to Naomi Tatty, SeeChange's Intercultural Health Lead joining from Iqaluit, for her personal reflections on the impacts of colonialism, including intergenerational trauma faced by Inuit communities, and commitment to help youth thrive. Iola Oshoweetok, our Youth Ambassador, speaking to us via Zoom from his home in Kinngait due to travel disruptions, shared his personal experience on the urgent need for support for Inuit youth, who face high suicide rates and isolation.
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SeeChange’s Founder and Executive Director, Rachel Kiddell-Monroe, highlighted the history and purpose of the SeeChange Initiative, born out of a commitment to supporting Inuit communities in responding to health and wellbeing needs. We’re grateful to all who attended and experienced the remarkable art collection, generously shared by William Huffman, and listened to powerful stories about Inuit Youth and their hopes for the future.
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