The Government of Canada has announced funding for investments in Indigenous youth. On September 3, 2019, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett announced funding to advance the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 66, which calls for the establishment of multi-year funding for community-based youth organizations to deliver programs on reconciliation and establish a national youth network to share information and best practices.

Max FineDay, Executive Director of Canadian Roots Exchanges, says funding more youth reconciliation programs will help achieve the goal of reconciliation. Stock photo

“The voices of Indigenous youth are essential to charting the path forward on reconciliation,” said Minister Bennett in a media release. “In responding to Call to Action 66 the Federal Government is committing to multi-year funding for a pilot program with Canadian Roots Exchange to support a network for Indigenous youth to share information and best practices and to provide recommendations on the best path forward.”

The Government of Canada, through Budget 2019, has allocated $15.2 million over three years, starting in 2019-20, for an Indigenous youth pilot program delivered by the Canadian Roots Exchange. This pilot program will establish a national network that reflects the diversity amongst Indigenous youth; support reconciliation-focused youth activities across Canada, including urban, northern and remote communities; and recommend a longer-term sustainable approach to the implementation of the TRC’s Call to Action 66.

“Reconciliation in our lifetime is a worthy goal that is within our reach as a country. In the Youth Reconciliation Barometer we conducted, youth across the country who went through a reconciliation program were much more knowledgeable and felt confident that reconciliation is possible,” said Max FineDay, the Executive Director of the Canadian Roots Exchange. “More youth reconciliation programs will help us achieve this goal, and that's exactly what this investment will help us create.”

Together, the Government of Canada and the Canadian Roots Exchange will help ensure that the voices of Indigenous youth are heard and incorporated into decision-making processes, and will enable Indigenous youth to engage and support each other as they work to advance their diverse and unique priorities.