TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Kimia's blog
Western Canada trip - Part 1
Related to country: Canada

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Hey all,

I am currently on a Western Canada trip, visiting CLC Canada coordinators and project partners in British Columbia, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, and Alberta. I'll be away for three weeks total and plan to be back in Toronto around February 5th. I am really excited to have a chance to meet some of our local partners and to attend and facilitate workshops with the CLCers. For more on the CLC project, go to http://projects.takingitglobal.org/clccanada.

On Monday January 13th, I took part in a networking meeting in Vancouver that was put on by Bob Neubauer, the CLC BC Coordinator and Shannon at Vancouver Community Network, our BC host organization. It went really well, with 15 people (11 groups) in attendance including City of Vancouver Youth Outreach Team, Gab Youth Services, Youth Spot Employment, and Reel Youth. Many of the groups had also attended the Youth Jam that occurred the previous year which was a meeting of youth workers seeking to build a knowledge-sharing network. Though there was incredible enthusiasm at the Jam, everyone lost touch, and essentially no network was formed. So many Jam participants came to this networking meeting with determination to build and SUSTAIN a Vancouver network of youth serving organizations. The meeting consisted of each group highlighting key projects happening with their organization and areas in which they are seeking support. There were many connections and resource sharing that happened right then and there which was really exciting to see. We spoke a lot about how to ensure that this network structure could be maintained and that communications would be ongoing between meetings (that were decidedly set for every 2 months). Bob and I spoke a lot about the types of online tools available that how other networks are using them. VCN will be launching a youth portal in the next few weeks that will include a directory of youth organizations. They agreed to build a backend to the site where the Vancouver network could continue internal discussions. All network members were in full support of using technology as a means of staying connected and looked to Shannon and Bob for further guidance on this. Great job Bob! To reach Bob, email him at bc@clc.takingitglobal.org.


I'm currently in Whitehorse and lovin it! It's really beautiful, the downtown is surrounded by mountains and Yukon College is atop a mountain looking down on the city. Having with the BYTE team (Bringing Youth Towards Equality is the CLC host organization in Yukon) has been really nice and everyone has been super welcoming. BYTE is having their annual conference this weekend, called Youth Take Over The World. Youth from across the Territory come to Whitehorse for this happening event.

They've got workshops happening throughout, musical performances including the Sam Roberts Band and Battle of the Bands, as well as a Carnival and an Arts show. So all youth serving groups in the Yukon as well as local radio/newspapers, schools and the College are in prep mode for the conference.

I have also met with Amanda Graham, the Yukon College coordinator for the university of the Arctic. UArctic is a network of universities from the Arctic to have come together to design a program (providing both online/offline courses) that focuses on life in the circumpolar world.
The program also allows for exchanges between northerners so that learn from their peers and experience life in other regions of the Arctic. We had a great discussion, looking at different ways TIG and UArctic could partner and support one another. UArctic students have often mentioned that they would like to stay more connected with one another in order to continue sharing their learning. Kenny actually took a UArctic course and felt strongly that the TakingITGlobal online community would be an incredible platform through with UArcticers could maintain their ties and further their learning. Furthermore, we spoke about possible building a TIGed module and/or understanding issues section that would act as an introduction to the circumpolar world. Currently TIG doesn't have any specific content on this region. UArctic has several academics and students from around the Circumpolar region who could help to develop such modules. In fact, they are currently revising their courses and are looking for opportunities to build new content.
Finally, we talked about integrating a social change/community engagement into one of their modules since this isn't currently touched on in their courses. TIG could develop a short presentation for this which would be a great entry point to connect with the students.

Overall, Amanda was increasingly more excited about the several opportunities that could arise from our partnership. Her suggestion was that we start by becoming members of UArctic (she believes we would meet the criteria), in order to connect with all parties involved in the network. She also suggested other programs that we should approach regarding a similar partnership including Northern Forum, Sudents on Ice, Australia/Antarctica exchange program, the IPY youth committees, APEC (young polar researchers who could support content development in this area), OOPIK, IISD Northern Intern program, U of Lampland Arctic Studies Centre, and Arctic-Portal.org (for cross-promotions). So clearly, I've got a lot of follow-up ahead of me! J Just as we were ending our meeting, I showed her some TIG magazines and our annual report - she was very impressed!

That's it for now, more updates to come soon!

Thanks for reading TIG!

Kimia

January 17, 2008 | 4:00 PM Comments  1 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


Comments

Doyen Mustapha
January 17, 2008 | 4:11 PM

photos...Photos
Kimia's Profile

Kimia's Friends


Latest Posts
The World Heritage...
Boys and Girls...
Untitled
Elections in Iran
Edmonton Trip - CLC...

Monthly Archive
July 2006
April 2007
June 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
August 2008

Change Language


Tags Archive
aboriginalcommunities activism americas and canada change clc clccanada climate climatechange development edmonton education empowerment halifax icts immigrant isolation networking pro-social refugee rights sites travel unesco worldheritage youth youthempowerment yukon

Filter By Type
Travel
Topics

Friends
@k!0
Aarluk
Adam MacIsaac
Aiden Abram
allen kelly auksaq
Allison McLean
Andrea Endicott
Andrew LeBlanc
Angie
aryaafshar
Aurora Herrera
AWellEarth.net
aziz
Ben Powless
BLAIR
Bob
Cara-
Chiara C.
Cyrielle Fleury
Damian Profeta
Dana
demar
e.sum
Elizabeth Fraser
Emily
Emily Briggs
Erick Ochieng Otieno
Félix Cortés Schoeler
Francis
G
Helping Lives International
ilyes
Jennifer Corriero
Jenny
Jess
Jess Conn-Potegal
Jesse Tungilik
Jessie-Lee Langille
Jinny Mailhot
Jorge E. Salazar
Jose Coti
julia k
Justine Castonguay-Payant
Keara
Kenny
Kirsten
KM
Krys
Kyle Simunovic
Laila Rastegar
Lambodar Prasad Dash
LeslieGOliver
Lisa Evans
Livs
Lynne Lessard
Mai
MARCO ANTONIO MALDONADO M.
marian cox
martin tétu
Matthew Gusul
meganma
Muqing
Nahka
Nathaniel Cyrus Yue-Kiu Chan
Nelly
Nelly Bassily
Nikki
Ntamack John Billong
P.J. Partington
Pauline
Pepe
Phil Fry
Rahim Zai
Robin Perdomo
RyanJanvier
Saara
Sabrina Poirier
Sandi Rankaduwa
Sessi
Steve Baird
Tala Tootoosis
Tchekwie
Virginia
Yasmary Mora
Yassir EL OUARZADI
YENY CHARREZ CARLOS
~ Mostafa Nejati ~


21883 views
Important Disclaimer