Social Development

Over the past month, members of the Social Development Policy Team have been continuing the exciting work of developing the social media outreach strategy for the Generation 4 Equality (G4E) project.

This project celebrates the voices and experiences of Indigenous youth of all genders across Turtle Island and Inuit Nunangat who are advocating for gender equality and sexual and gender diversity. A central component of this project involves developing an online networking platform that acts as a virtual space for Indigenous youth to share ideas, build leadership capacity, gain knowledge and skills, and increase their ability to advocate for gender equality and diversity in their communities.

In May, we were happy to receive funding from Indigenous Services Canada through their First Nations and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy. This funding has enabled us to hire a Youth Social Media Coordinator, who will help us develop and implement our social media strategy and will assist us with the creation of skills development workshops for Indigenous youth. These workshops are focused on helping youth ‘find their voice,’ harness their skills in the digital world, and tap into the online Indigenous youth cultures that are gaining momentum in the era of the pandemic.

July has been a busy month, gearing up for the launch of the website in early August and selecting and meeting with talented youth leaders and entrepreneurs to plan two events in the coming months: one workshop in August on how to utilize social media and digital storytelling to advocate for gender equality, and one interactive panel discussion in September on how to succeed as an Indigenous woman or gender-diverse entrepreneur in the communications sector. We have high hopes for these workshops, as they will inspire a large number of Indigenous youth. At least 50 youth will directly benefit from attending, while thousands more will indirectly benefit by being exposed to the work of Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ workshop leaders with large online followings via our social media outreach. Keep your eye out for event posters!