Bring your fire
We’ll Bring the circle
up in the suburbs. By the end of the week, none of that matters – what matters is what they build together,
and what they carry home.
The Youth-to-Youth Experience
Once a year, twenty-five Indigenous and twenty-five non-Indigenous youth, ages 15 to 17, spend a week together on territory – guided by Elders and Knowledge Keepers, not textbooks. They’ve gathered on the traditional lands of the Mi’kmaq in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and most recently at Six Nations of the Grand River. Edmonton is next.
- Ages 15 to 17, all genders and abilities welcome
- Fully covered: travel, meals, accommodations – no cost to families
- Land-based teachings alongside truth and reconciliation history
Youth Ambassadors
Some alumni go home and the story sits with them quietly. Others can’t stop telling it — so we hand them a microphone. Youth Ambassadors are Y2Y grads who return to their schools, their Rotary clubs, and their communities to speak directly about truth and reconciliation and what it means to be a good steward of the land. No script. Just a young person who was there, telling a room what actually happened around that fire.
- Alumni-led talks at Rotary clubs, schools, and district conferences
- Firsthand accounts of truth and reconciliation, in the ambassador’s own words
- Land and environmental stewardship carried from Y2Y into home communities
Walk With The earth
This one didn’t come from a boardroom – it came from Y2Y alumni who wanted a way to keep the conversation going after the week ends. Youth alumni are inviting you to walk with them and share why the land matters #WalkWithTheEarth. Simple, peer-to-peer, and it spreads the way good stories always do.
- Youth-initiated, peer-to-peer event & challenge
- Extends Y2Y’s land stewardship teachings into daily life
- Open to everyone to participate
Youth Initiatives
Y2Y was never meant to end after one week. The best ideas HIP has ever had came from alumni who went home and kept building – projects related to cultural restoration, community development, or a fundraiser for an important cause. Youth Initiatives is where those ideas get room to grow, built by the people who had them, not assigned from head office.
- Projects are proposed and led by youth, not handed down to them
- Alumni return as summer interns, junior facilitators, and staff to help the next idea off the ground
- Past initiatives include Walk With The Earth, a Rotary-channelled giving project started by grads themselves
