YWCA teams up with Indspire
'The community response has been absolutely fantastic' says organizer
Jessica Phillips
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Getting the president and CEO of Indspire to speak about the value of education on behalf of the YWCA was a perfect fit, according to the organization's spokesperson.
Roberta Jamieson, president and CEO of Indspire, talks about education for indigenous people and more at a luncheon held by the YWCA on April 8. - Jessica Phillips/ NNSL photo |
Roberta Jamieson packed the Explorer Hotel April 8 with eager listeners while offering a few words of wisdom to help get one of the city's association's some exposure at a luncheon. Indspire is an indigenous-led charity that invests in education for indigenous people.
Alayna Ward, director of community relations at the YWCA, said it made the event happen because representatives of the organization wanted to get the YWCA name out into the community to show people what it does for people in the North.
"We thought one of the good ways to do that was to have a high-profile role model such as Roberta Jamieson come up and speak about
her work," Ward said.
"The community response has just been absolutely fantastic. We've sold out the event. People are really interested in hearing her speak. We have had calls for the past two days for people who are looking for tickets so it just shows that people have a real interest in hearing from positive role models like Roberta and also to learn more about the YWCA."
Ward said the main thing the YWCA does is provide transitional housing for woman and families and also provide shelter for women and their children who are fleeing family violence.
She said another important thing the YWCA does is run youth empowerment programs.
To help promote that, the focus of Jamieson's talk was education, identity and opportunities.
"I had to do a lot of extracurricular activities to maintain and sustain a strong sense of identity and I know that identity is critical to success as a student and as a person. You have to be strong in who you are," she said in an interview before her speech. She said indigenous people have the right to equality in education and that the key to create a new and different relationship between the government and indigenous people is education.
"Both educating Canadians on the contributions that our people have made to the county and also providing our young people with the opportunity for a quality education," she said.
Jamieson said she was thrilled to honour the work of the YWCA by talking about her perspective on education. Last year, Indspire gifted 50 students in the North with bursaries of $5,000 each to pursue their education.
"I know the government provides support. This would be on top on that," she said, explaining Indspire has awarded $79 million from about 25,000 bursaries and scholarships to indigenous students.
"Every day is an opportunity to keep working at creating positive change for the county," Jamieson said. "I continue to see myself as a change maker."
