Welcome to the RMYC!
The Regional Multicultural Youth Council (RMYC) is an inclusive group linking youths in small and isolated communities of Northwestern Ontario. The Council was formed as a follow-up to the special activities organized by the Multicultural Association of Northwestern Ontario (MANWO) in 1985 to mark the International Youth Year. Today, the RMYC is a dynamic organization promoting youth involvement in positive activities to foster the well-being of children and youth, and developing proactive programs to enhance the quality of life and improve social conditions in our communities. For more information, check out the About Us section!
What's Happening!
RMYC Executive Meetings
Come check out our meetings every Saturday at 5 PM. The RMYC Executive meets at the Youth Centre on Saturday afternoon from about 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The meetings are open
to all youths interested in planning activities and/or organizing their own events. Anyone with ideas to share, issues to discuss, or talents to contribute is welcome to join us. You can also contact us with your ideas via
e-mail: manwoyc@tbaytel.net
SASSY Student Leaders' Conference:
The Regional Multicultural Youth Council (RMYC) is co-sponsoring a student leaders’ conference with Lakehead Public Schools to discuss ways to make our schools safer. The forum titled "Schools Acknowledging Safety Solutions by Youth (SASSY)" will be held at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School on Tuesday, June 24, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.As part of the Roots of Youth Violence Review, and the Safer Schools consultation for the Ontario government last winter, and during the Youth Embracing Diversity in Education forum hosted by Lakehead Public Schools on March 20, the RMYC conducted surveys on youth concerns. From the information compiled on school safety, the Youth Council has learned that:
* A majority of students feel safe at school, feel safe taking the school bus, and say that their teachers and staff treat them fairly.
* Bullying, Discrimination, Drugs, and Violence are the four top problems in local schools.
* Many students feel that not enough is being done to deal with these issues at school.
The SASSY conference will bring together students from Lakehead Public Schools, the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, and ESC de La Verendrye to talk about safety issues at school, and what they feel should be done to create a safer learning environment.
The day will begin with a large group session to explain the conference objectives. Guest speakers have been invited to provide some background to the issues before students are divided into small groups. There will be workshops on the four problems identified. Teams of youth facilitators will lead the discussions, and challenge the students to come up with suggestions on the role they can play to address the issues. The students will also be asked to come up wit recommendations on what teachers, staff and school principals, school boards and the government can do to create safer schools.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided – compliments of the Mandarin Chinese Restaurant, Safeway, and Tim Hortons.
The day will end with an assembly where reports on what transpired in the separate workshops will be shared with the whole group, and recommendations presented to the school authorities.
Mr. Rowan Seymour, Education Officer with Lakehead Public Schools is co-ordinating transportation for the conference. Students interested to attend should register with their school principal by June 13, to allow enough time to arrange bus pick-ups to the conference.
For more information please contact Martin Zhang, RMYC President, or Sasha Sky, Conference Co-ordinator, at 622-4666.
Collaborating with Fort William First Nation Youth Council:
The RMYC is working with Fort William First Nation Youth Council (FWFNYC) on a number of initiatives. This is aimed at developing the new young leaders running the Youth Council, and publicizing the activities of the group in the community. After attending a planning meeting at the Fort William Community Centre, last April, members of the RMYC and the FWFNYC decided to collaborate on activities that put a positive light on the youth.
Since the initial meeting in April, members of FWFN Youth Council have joined the RMYC and CCUPCY for the Youth Week barbecue at Paterson Park on May 7, and to Paint the Town Clean on June 7. The RMYC joined the May 19Youth Rally at the FWFN Community Centre in support of the jailed leaders from KI. Other joint upcoming events include the Honouring and Protecting Mother Earth on June 22. This is a community clean-up before the Mount McKay ‘Indian’ Days.
The New Mentality Conference:
The New Mentality: Synergy, a part of the Shoulder to Shoulder Conference, Children's Mental Health Ontario and Children's Aid Society hosted a joint conference in Toronto, June 1-3, 2008. RMYC past presidents, Pauline Fogarty, and Pauline Fogarty were joined by other members of the New mentality Team at the Youth Centre: Tarah Levanto, Nicole Bajada, and Katie Robinson at the conference. They presented a Health Engaging Youth (HEYou) project to a room of interested young people, and led a break-out session and our passion and ideas for how to improve the mental health of young people was very well received. The team also spoke of the goals of a youth driven-network to provide anti-stigma activities and input into the health system. They also described the activities, awareness, and education achieved through their work at the Multicultural Youth Centre. The list of activities included:
1. Talent Night Event to generate interest and recruit members
2. Go Mental Workshop Two-day event with a focus on Depression, Anxiety, and mental health 3. All Ages Mixer Mothers Against Drunk Driving presentation and open space forum 4. Personal Growth WorkshopThe New Mentality group met on Wednesday evening at we had a great turn-out. It was an interesting learning experience for the participants, and we enjoyed sharing our ideas about the project with other delegates at the conference.
Celebrate Canada - June 21- July 1, 2008
The RMYC is organizing a series of activities to celebrate Canada. The kick-off events include participating in the National Aboriginal day-long festivities at Fort William Historical Park, where the Youth Council will have a booth, and sponsor some youth drummers and dancers.
On June 26, the RMYC will present "Hamboringen", a group of 20 dancers from Karlskrona in Sweden. The group touring USA and Canada will perform a free show in Victoriaville Centre, beginning at 4:00 p.m.
For Canada Day, the RMYC will have some members in a parade to Marina Park, and join the thousands at the celebrations and fireworks at the Park.
Youth Centre Receives Donation from NNEC and DFC.
The Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) and the Dennis Franklin Cromarty (DFC) High School Student Council each donated $1,000.00 to help cover the Multicultural Youth Centre’s heating costs. This enabled the RMYC to keep the Centre open for longer hours during the evenings and on weekends, for the benefit of DFC students.
A lack of funding had forced the Centre to cut off the heat after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends. But with the donation, the operating hours were extended. DFC students from Pikangikum, Mishkeegogamang, North Spirit Lake, Sachigo Lake, Weagamow Lake, Deer Lake, and Sandy Lake were the regulars. And for convenience, team leaders--Clayton Pascal (Pikangikum), and Valentina Rae (North Spirit Lake) were trained as supervisors, and given them sets of keys to the Youth Centre. This way, they could open the building for other students to use computers, do homework, watch movies, or socialize whenever they want to.
The RMYC would like to continue making the Youth Centre available for DFC students in the fall. We hope that the support will continue so that the students can use the Youth Centre to hold their own community group meetings, as well as organize special activities, and participate in after-school programs.
Paint the Town Clean:
The RMYC joined other members of CCUPCY to paint over graffiti across the city. This year’s clean up was help on Saturday June 7. Teams of volunteers gathered at Paterson Park at 10 a.m. to be assigned areas to be cleaned. Areas with a lot of graffiti included Marina Park, Castle Green, Port Arthur Overpass, downtown Southcore, the underpasses to the East-end, and Kamview Park.
The volunteers re-assembled at Paterson Park by the Brodie Street bus terminal after cleaning up the graffiti, for a barbecue. The RMYC provided the sound-system and some entertainment, while the Creighton Centre, Urban Aboriginal Strategies, Seven Generations, Thunder Bay Indian Friendship Centre, Norwest Health Centre, Thunder Bay Police Services Aboriginal Liaison Unit, Lakehead Public Schools took turns to serve the food and refreshments.
The Fort William First Nation Youth Council had its members helping with the clean up. The RMYC will be reciprocating by sending youths to participate in a similar clean-up on Fort William First Nation on Sunday, June 22, from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Shaking the Movers Conference
Ashley Atatise, Coreen Kakegamic and Vince Ash represented the Regional Multicultural Youth Council at the Shaking the Movers II conference held in Ottawa, June 27-30, 2008. The event was organized by the Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights at Carleton University. The theme this year was "Identity and Belonging", and covered issues such as language and religion.
This was the first large conference for Coreen and Vince, students at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School. They shared their own experiences about identity in the face of mainstream culture, and the inter-generational impacts of residential schools. They were selected to report to the main gathering on what was discussed in their small group.
The recommendations from the conference will be presented to our political leaders.
RMYC Wins Award:On, May 15, The Regional Multicultural Youth Council was one of the recipients of the 2008 Aboriginal Achievement and Recognition Awards. The ceremony attended by over 350 people was held at the Thunder Bay Victoria Inn.
Moffat Makuto received the award on behalf of the Youth Council for the role the Multicultural Youth Centre has played in taking on student placements through co-operative education to encourage career exploration and provide valuable work and life experience.
More information on the 2008 Aboriginal Achievement and Recognition Awards is available on Wawatay News (May 29, 2008) and on the website: www.wawataynews.ca
National Day of Action
The RMYC joined various Aboriginal agencies, community groups and individuals for the walk and rally to mark the second Aboriginal Day of Action on May 29, 2008. The walk started at the Labour Centre by Intercity Mall, and proceeded to Marina Park for the rally.
The RMYC provided the sound system and stage for the guest speakers. Several Aboriginal leaders addressed the crowds gathered at Marina Park on a bright sunny day. Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, Fort William Chief and Webequie Chief Scott Jacob representing Matawa First Nations spoke about the significance of the day. Representatives for local members of parliament and Thunder Bay City Council were also on hand to show support.
The Art/ Literary Competition (Project March 21) Awards:
As part of the 2008 Race Relations campaign, the RMYC organized an art/poetry/essay competition for all Thunder Bay schools. The aim was to promote March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and diversity was the theme. Students were encouraged to be creative and submit drawings and personal stories/experiences with multiculturalism, and/or viewpoints regarding racism at school, in the community, and the world in general.
Over thirty visual and literary pieces were submitted for the competition. The pieces were displayed at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery from March 19 to April 6, 2008. An independent jury of adjudicators from the Youth Arts Council, and the ‘people’s choice’ selection process by visitors helped to pick the final winners. The Awards were given out at an Awards ceremony and dinner held at the Multicultural Youth Centre on Friday, May 9th.
The following are the students and classes selected to share a total of approximately $1,000.00 in prizes:
GRADE 4 - 6:
1st. Morgan Carlton-Shubert 2nd Melissa Davidson 3rd. Kaitlin Fenton
GRADE 7 - 9:
1st. Yohan Khan 2nd Calleigh Carlton-Shubert 3rd Kathryn Piccard
GRADES 10 -12
1st Kara Holmberg 2nd Brianne Burnell 3rd Caitlynn Gaudette
SCHOOL/CLASS AWARDS:
Ms. Leslie Hynnes’ Class, Agnew H. Johnston School
Ms. Jan Waldie’s Class, Gorham & Ware School
Hey You!
The Heath Engaging Youth Project (HEYou) is a "New Mentality" initiative at the Multicultural Youth Centre. It is a network of people between the ages of 13 to 25 interested in creating change by raising awareness on mental health and mental issues.
Please call 622-4666 for more information.
Last Updated: June 16, 2008