Aboriginal Youth Unite This Week in Prince Rupert, B.C.

The 9th Annual Aboriginal Youth Conference called “Gathering Our Voices 2011” is currently taking place this week in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. This is an excellent opportunity to promote healthy living in Aboriginal communities as well as to provide education to Aboriginal youth on many important topics.

Hosted by the British Columbia Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, the conference is just one of the exciting initiatives focusing on youth as young as 14 years of age. The unique conference attracts close to 1500 Aboriginal youth from across Canada to participate in networking and leadership development opportunities focusing on areas of great relevance to them --- health, language, culture, employment, education, learning for life, and the environment.

This year’s conference, which runs from 21-24 March 2011, focuses on two themes. The first one is “A Vision of Our Future” which includes over 40 workshops, a career and education fair, cultural and recreational activities, social events and motivational speakers during the four day conference.

Some of the workshops that are arranged for the youth range include:

• Decisions, Choices and Consequences BEFORE and AFTER.”
• “Gitxsan Aerobics – Learn, Laugh and Love the Drum”
• “Honouring our Past to Protect our Future. Traditional tobacco use and commercial tobacco misuse.”
• “Back to the Roots with Holistic Nutrition”
• Indigeneous Games & Sports

The second theme of the conference is a “Health Challenge” contest. The goal is to challenge youth to increase their daily physical activity. Between22 November 2010 and 30 January 2011, teams or individuals logged their fitness participation on Activity Tracking Charts where the winners with the most active time will be awarded prizes this week.

For more information on Aboriginal sport and physical activity contact SIRC!