
All Children and Youth Thrive!

Where do Halton Youth Find their Safe Space to Connect?
By: Lacey Swamy (She/They), Youth Leader, Writing from Treaty 22 Land For years, I thought I was white. Truth be told, I never felt ‘brown enough’ to identify as anything else. I’m half Guyanese and half British, making my skin tone definitely not white. It wasn’t until I was 14, at the start of the pandemic, that I realized I was biracial. Then at 15, I began to consider myself a person of colour, and at 16, I finally believed it. I would love to stand here and say I just woke up one day and understood my race and accepted it. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Being surrounded by predominantly white people all through elementary and middle school, I learned very little about other racial identities. Going into online school, because of the pandemic, I spent more time on social media and eventually had the resources to learn more about myself. I remember being grateful enough to attend a Leadership Diversity conference, where I joined their biracial affinity group, within...
Youth Impact Ambassadors facilitate discussions around key data from the Halton Youth Impact Survey
By Lily Viggiano, former Halton Youth Initiative Project Coordinator On Tuesday November 30, 2021, several Youth Impact Ambassadors facilitated discussions with other youth in Halton regarding key elements, or ‘data sparks’, from the Halton Youth Impact Survey. During...
Halton Youth Impact Survey Demonstrates the Ideals of National Child Day 2021
Including the Reflections of Halton Youth on the Survey Data is Critical to Preparing the Data for the Community By Elisabeth Wells, PhD, Our Kids Network research & knowledge mobilization manager As Canada prepares to mark National Child Day on November...
Celebrate and Advocate on National Child Day! #8MillionStrong #EveryChildMatters
By Angela Bellegarde, Our Kids Network Indigenous lead This year marks the 30th anniversary of Canada signing the United Nations (UN) Convention of the Rights of the Child, established in 1989. In fact, the UN’s Declaration of the Rights of the Child was developed 30...
The results are in: What do Halton youth have to say about their wellbeing?
By Connor Clerke, OKN knowledge broker In May and June 2021, Our Kids Network, in collaboration with UNICEF Canada, the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, Medivae Foundation and the Ontario Trillium Foundation, launched the Halton Youth Impact Survey. The survey was piloted...
HYI Community Builder Team Puts Trust and Truth into Action
By Siobhan Laverdiere, former Halton Youth Initiative Coordinator “It’s often said before there can be Reconciliation, there must be Truth. I would challenge that, even before Truth, there must be Trust.” Robyn Ward, Director of People Operations, Animikii As a former...
Two Voices on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Introduction by Beth Williams, Our Kids Network Communications Manager On September 30th people across Canada will observe the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the fulfilment of Call to Action #80 in the Final Truth and Reconciliation Commission...