Making positive change was the topic of discussion at a Saskatoon event this past weekend.
Saskatoon Change Makers was put on by the Broadbent Institute and featured University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union President Max Fine Day and Erica Lee of Idle No More as speakers.
Fine Day, the only First Nations person ever to be elected president of the U of S students’ union, says it was through the encouragement of others that he decided to get involved in social movements and student politics.
“I had a lot of great encouragement from family and people saying First Nations people, specifically, are needing champions,” he says.
Lee says her roots of activism come from within her family.
“For me, activism ran in my family and my mom taught me at a young age to care about what was going on because it directly affected us,” she says.
Both Fine Day and Lee say that although the system may be flawed, it is vital that young Indigenous people get politically active in whatever way they can.
Other speakers at the event included Upstream’s Dr. Ryan Meili and Mitch Stewart, a political organizer for U.S. President Barack Obama.
The event was held at the Roxy Theatre.