Youth@FortGarry

Confirmed Speakers

• Hannah Taylor
  Hannah Taylor is Canada’s youngest advocate for those who are homeless. At 8 years of age Hannah founded a non-profit registered charity, The Ladybug Foundation Inc., which assists over 50 Canadian charities whom provide food, shelter and other basic needs to those who are homeless, hungry and poor. Through several speaking engagements and various fundraising events both nationally and internationally Hannah works tirelessly raising awareness and educating about the issue of homelessness and poverty. Hannah reminds us “we all need to share a little of what we have” food and shelter is a basic human right, “no one should have to eat from a garbage can.”
• Muuxi Adam
  Muuxi Adam arrived in Winnipeg in 2004 at age 16 after escaping war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia. He produced and directed a film called A Ray of Hope that describes the tough, often life-or-death choices young refugees and immigrants face. Currently, he is the After-School Program Coordinator at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba. He also serves on the Winnipeg Recreation Task Force of the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council and on the Manitoba Ethnocultural Advisory and Advocacy Council, and is a co-founder of Humankind International.
• Emily Doer
  After a three-year struggle with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, Emily Doer was voluntarily admitted to the Adult Eating Disorders Program at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg for treatment in April 2011. One of her motivations for recovery was returning to school to complete the final two years of a communications degree, which she will graduate with in spring 2013. She is the founder and organizer of “tea for E|D” a tea party fundraiser for adult eating disorders, an event which started as a school project and has blossomed into an awareness campaign. She shares her personal experiences with her eating disorder and recovery to help reduce the stigma and shame of this disease, and in hopes that others suffering in silence know that they are not alone. The first annual “tea for E|D,” in February 2013 was attended by over 450 guests and raised over $33,000 for the program she believes gave her back her life.
• Evan Wiens
  Evan Wiens is a 17-year-old student born and raised in Steinbach, Manitoba. He is an actor who currently attends Prairie Theatre Exchange Theatre School. He takes vocal lessons and plans a career in musical theatre after high school. In addition to his arts-oriented schedule, Evan is passionate about social justice and human rights and is involved with the gay-straight alliance at his school. He currently lives in Steinbach, Manitoba.
• Nick Harper
  Nick is a 14 year old Cree, Ojibwa, Canadian artist. He presently attends Ecole Stanley Knowles in Winnipeg and is registered at Tec-Voc for this fall. Nick has discovered that he can use his art to effectively communicate ideas to others despite facing challenges in other areas of study. Although self-taught, Nick credits Emily Carr and aboriginal artistic style as his biggest influences.
• Anna MacDonald
  Anna MacDonald is a grade twelve student at the Seven Oaks Met School with plenty of experience meeting new people and visiting new places (having been born in Halifax and living in Montreal before moving to Winnipeg). Through Seven Oaks Met School, Anna had the opportunity to make a short documentary film last year, which has now screened at three international film festivals. Anna is passionate about social justice and helps spread awareness about important issues through her filmmaking. Anna was inspired to begin her second documentary film last year, after learning about the negative impact Canadian mining companies are having in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Anna is excited about completing her new film and the upcoming events that her social justice group has planned to spread awareness about the crisis in the Congo.