Youth Parliament gives Wekweeti student a voice
Increase jobs and Tlicho language lessons, says Mackenzie Tsatchia
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Monday, May 25, 2015
WEKWEETI/SNARE LAKES
Mackenzie Tsatchia knew exactly what she wanted to discuss with territorial politicians as a member of this year's Youth Parliament.
Mackenzie Tsatchia, Grade 9 student at Alexis Arrowmaker School in Wekweeti, stands with Jackie Jacobson, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, during Youth Parliament in Yellowknife. - photo courtesy of Kaitlyn Vician |
"I talked to them about education and job opportunities and the Tlicho region," she said.
"And I talked about how we should change our Tlicho classes to learn our language at different times of the day on school days."
Tsatchia, a Grade 9 student at Alexis Arrowmaker School in Wekweeti, was the representative for the Monfwi constituency during Youth Parliament in Yellowknife from May 4 through 8.
During her presentation she explained how more needs to be done to create jobs in communities within the Tlicho region.
"They should make more ideas for jobs in small communities," she said.
Tsatchia also spoke about how more time should be dedicated to Tlicho language classes in schools. She said while almost two hours are dedicated to English classes each day, Tlicho only receives about half an hour.
"We have very little time to learn," she said.
In between discussions, participants got the chance to tour the legislative assembly.
"We went in the chamber and we learned all about the government's history," she said.
Students were also given the chance to weigh in on issues facing youth throughout the territory, such as whether social media websites should be banned at schools.
Tsatchia said it was interesting to hear the points of view of participants from different communities.
"It was really good to hear what other kids had to say about it," she said.
She said some participants said they believed social media was acceptable at school - as long as it was being used during the students' own time, such as at lunch time or on a break.
Discussing issues and sharing ideas were her favourite aspects of the program, Tsatchia said.
"We got to meet a lot of new people with different ideas," she said.
NWT Youth Parliament is held every two years and is only available to students from Grades 9 and 10, which means Tsatchia won't be able to participate again, but she said she would if she could.
"It was a great experience," she said.
"We had a lot of fun."
