The "Be Well Six Nations Youth Conference" will be taking place this weekend. Community members aged 12 to 24 are invited to participate in the variety of workshops that will be available and to take in musical performances and different traditional socials.

Conference Director Charity Lickers said they expect over 100 participants to attend.

Workshops during the youth conference will range from songwriting, to speaking with local climate activists, as well as traditional crafting workshops like moccasin making, basket weaving and beaded hoop earrings, a portable planetarium that will feature traditional Haudenosaunee star stories and many more. Each workshop will be run by facilitators from Six Nations or other Indigenous communities, including DJ Shub, James Wilson, Semiah Smith, Makasa Lookinghorse, Santee Smith and many more.

Lickers said that most workshops were made to be Six Nations focused, but on Saturday night the conference will have a Big Drum Social to be inclusive of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN).

Lickers spoke on bringing the wide range of youth from the Six Nations community together to empower them and show them they have power in their voices.

"That's definitely what we want to do, we know there's a lot of youth that are older that are really engaged in a lot of activities and we want to be able to have those youth start to empower the younger youth and to make them realize that they have power in their voice," she said. "We're going to be talking a lot about ministry mandated systems that our people are imposed upon, such as the education system and the child welfare system and the justice system. We want to empower youth to recognize that they have a voice in those systems and that they are able to speak up and ask for change, because we know that those systems aren't necessarily geared towards our Indigenous people."

Lickers said that she believes the youth conference will be able to show current youth community members that they are the future and hopes to encouraged them to become community leaders for the generation after them.

"Personally, I have always believed that the youth are going to be ones that change our world for us," she said. "It's going to be so powerful for me to see our own youth in that space, being able to know their power, and being able to recognize their skills, and know that there's a lot of adults in the community that are supporting them and really wanting them to move forward. One day they're going to be in all of our positions and they're going to be that much better than us."

Lickers hopes having local facilitators and community leaders for the youth to engage with will inspire them and give them the knowledge that people from the Six Nations community can make a difference.

"I definitely think that's crucial to have them there for kids to know that these people are right in our own community and that this can happen to anyone," she said. "We always see people doing things from other parts of the country, other parts of the world but we don't always get to see them in a localized community setting. So it will be amazing to have that forum for them to be able to see that there's so many people right here in the community doing so many great things".

The "Be Well Six Nations Youth Conference" will be happening from March 17-19 at The Gathering Place located at 2593 Chiefswood Rd. Youth community members aged 12-24 are encouraged to come out and participate in the event, free of charge. Transportation will be provided if needed. Registration for the event starts at 12 p.m. on March 17.

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