Quotes
Quotes From Early Entry Award Winners and Honourable Mentions
"Cette somme va permettre à une jeune cinéaste des Premières Nations de participer au prochain Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québecois pour y présenter son film!
- Manon Barbeau, founder, general director, producer, Wapikoni Mobile. Please visit http://wapikoni.tv/.
"Thank you to Changemakers for honoring our "Urban Butterflies" program. Our hope is for long term positive programming for little girls that improves outcomes for girls in care and in the community. Using culture boosts their self esteem and empowers them to be the best they can be in so many ways. To witness this transformation is a blessing for all of us involved with this program."
- Joy Chalmers, Urban Butterflies
"We are very honored to have been selected as one of the early entry awards from so many incredible programs. Nipissing University and the Office of Aboriginal Initiatives is very excited about sharing the Aboriginal Student Links Program, and our universities strategic initiatives that support Aboriginal, Inuit and Metis learning with as many people as possible. We look forward to continued participation and dialogue with the Ashoka Changemakers project."
- Doug Dokis, Manager, Aboriginal Services and Community Outreach, Nipissing University.
"The Changemaker competition is shining a light on the efforts and work of so many who wish to change the future for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples...We are proud to be part of this movement for change with our Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program and hope to reach Canadian Indigenous women who are interested in building their leadership skills for the benefit of their communities. We encourage them to apply to the Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program by the January 20, 2012 deadline."
- Sheila Isaac, program manager, IWCL program. Please visit http://www.iwomenlead.ca.
Quotes from Entrants
"The resiliency and success of any program is the measure of its ability to reach out and make meaningful connections with others; Changemakers helps facilitate and build these connections and, as a result, we are all inspired and made more aware of great initiatives happening across the country. Thank you."
-Dustin Bajer, Indigenous Permaculture
"Changemakers not only gave me the exposure I needed for my business idea but it also gave me the confidence to put my idea out there and see what other people thought about it. This is a dream of mine to do this and having this exposure made me realize that it's possible my dream can come true !"
- Melissa Bob, Flutterbye Butterfly
“The opportunity to publish details of our Aboriginal partnership programs on Changemakers has been invaluable, and learning about all the incredible projects operating in Canada has been inspiring to me and my colleagues. I look forward to more opportunities with Changemakers!”
- Carrie-Ann Goodfellow, Minerva Foundation for BC Women
"I have grown up accepting the circumstances given to me. Early on in my journey, I had failed in more ways then I care to recount. One day my perception shifted and I was no longer willing to accept things the way they were. Now I look at how I can contribute to changing circumstances I do not agree with or helping with ones that I do. I see my experience in failure as beneficial because it allows me to dream big. You cannot be scared of what you have already come through."
- Helen Knott, AYES program coordinator, Schoolbox. Please visit http://schoolbox.ca/ayes.htm.
"Our project at Woodroffe High School is looking to build relationships between native and non-native youth in Canada based on trust and and an understanding that we all need to appreciate the struggles and inequities that have defined this relationship in the past. Through a deeper understanding of each other we can work together to build a more just, and inclusive Canada. The mistakes of past need to be understood so they are not repeated and we can move forward in a society where all are valued and have an opportunity to thrive"
- Jaden Lairson, Woodroffe HS and Morley Community School Youth Exchange
"Congratulations to Ashoka Canada for serving as a gathering place for inspiring approaches to First Nations, Metis and Inuit learning. I am pleased that our NWCC SEM WEST (Northwest Community College School of Exploration & Mining Workforce Exploration Skills Training) submission is included in such an auspicious group of innovative ideas and approaches"
- Elisabeth Zweck, WEST Project Administrator, Northwest Community College School of Exploration & Mining
