Your Voice is Power Spring 2022 Winners

Grade 12, Technical Vocational School

Winnipeg, MB

“My inspiration came from personal experience and seeing it around. Racist systems and unstable homes was the topic. I tried to convey the reasons why our people may be depressed. I tried to say we come from a different type of lifestyle of the streets but it is equally difficult. I tried to end the song by saying we should become aware of what is killing us and rise above it.”

Grade 10 Collège français

Toronto, ON

“For my song production project, I wanted to send an important message about inequity towards Indigenous people. The overall goal of my song was to raise awareness of the reality that people from racial minority groups experience. The song excerpts spoke mainly of the fact that the government or people in power are doing nothing to eliminate these injustices, in short, we must become aware of these injustices and the inequity against Indigenous peoples. Racism is not only acts, but the lack of acts too. To achieve my goal of conveying this message, I used song segments from singers and Indigenous people, who individually in their songs spoke about their own experiences with racism and inequity. Racism is not something that can be fixed with an exchange of apologies, you have to have a visible change.”

Enseignante d’informatique, St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary School

Oakville, ON

nna Alfano, notre enseignante gagnante, recevra un prix de 1 000 $ pour s’être surpassée afin de faire participer ses élèves.

Anna a collaboré avec son école et son district pour impliquer sa professeure d’études autochtones, la conseillère autochtone et un collectif local de femmes autochtones.

”...puisque notre école célèbre le Mois national de l’histoire autochtone, nous avons voulu partager ce projet avec toute l’école. Nous allons diffuser une chanson d’élève par jour pendant les annonces du matin, suivie de leur réflexion, afin de diffuser encore davantage les voix de nos communautés autochtones à un public plus large tout au long du mois de juin.

Lorsque Bridget et moi avons commencé cette collaboration, nous n’avons jamais pensé qu’elle dépasserait le cadre de nos classes pour s’étendre à toute l’école. Nous prévoyons de poursuivre l’année prochaine et espérons que davantage d’élèves y participeront.”