On October 28, 2024, the INVINCIBLE youth opened Our Children Our Way: A Forum for Indigenous Child and Family Well-being. The 3-day national conference was held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, and the youth presented in front of 3,000+ in-person and virtual attendees across Turtle Island, New Zealand, and Australia.
This amazing team shared about INVINCIBLE, a digital storytelling project envisioned, written, and created by them, Indigenous youth in care who are part of the Youth Council at Surrounded by Cedar Child and Family Services on ləḱʷəŋən homelands.
They presented their stories, artwork, graphic design, poems, and their research process to social workers, band designates, Indigenous child and family service organizations, hereditary and elected leadership, Elders, and knowledge keepers. As the conference is held by the Indigenous Child & Family Services Directors Our Children Our Way Society, their voices are crucial in amplifying calls for action and change in a system that is meant to care for them.
After their presentation, they were celebrated with a standing ovation and a blanketing ceremony with Terry Teegee (BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief) and Mary Teegee (Chair of the Indigenous Child & Family Services Directors Our Children Our Way Society, and Executive Director of Carrier Sekani Family Services).
