Hearing Our Voices: Promoting Kaska youth leadership
The Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society (LAWS) was formed to help Kaska and other First Nation people improve their personal, family and community wellness and sustainability. LAWS emphasizes culturally appropriate and grassroots methods of addressing a wide array of community issues.
The Kaska Nation includes three First Nations in northern B.C. and two in Yukon (Liard and Ross River). The Kaska are nearing the final stages of a constitutional development process. The Constitution, intended to be a living document, underpins Kaska negotiations with Canada on land claims and self-government and charts the governance and policy framework for the future of the Nation.
Through the Hearing Our Voices program, LAWS has helped inject traditional values and concepts into the constitution, including the important role of women in formal decision-making.
A key feature of Hearing Our Voices is the Kaska Dene Youth Forum, held in July of 2005 in Watson Lake. This process educated youth and elders about the constitution process. Participants are committed to building a Youth Council that would have a formal role and voice in the future government.
This project demonstrates that engaging marginalized sectors of the community (in this case women and youth) and drawing on traditional laws, values and political structures, can help lay a solid foundation for impending self-government.
Hearing Our Voices is also supported by Heritage Canada's Aboriginal Women's Program and Status of Women Canada.
For more information, contact LAWS.