PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to the many YOUTH CONFERENCES that have taken place this year and that are scheduled to take place WE HAVE DECIDED TO CANCEL THE BYTE JANUARY 30TH YOUTH CONFERENCE and put our efforts into our community outreach program.

B.Y.T.E.’s 11th Yukon Youth Conference “UNITE AND IGNITE” was a venue where youth gathered to get busy, make some noise, and celebrate, through workshops, forums, concerts, talent shows, and sports. Bringing together youth from across the North, it empowered youth to be positive role models, helped youth discover the unlimited potential within themselves and provided the tools to create a world they want to live in.

What: 11th annual Youth Conference

Where: Yukon College

Who: Ashley Camara, Julie Hackbart, Meredith Winkelaar, Adam Pope, BYTE board members(Joel, Dave, David and Andrea), TYPS team(3), BYTE Facilitation Team, volunteers.

When: November 21-23

Funding: Youth Directorate, Entrance fees, Yukon College, City of Whitehorse (Recreation and Eco. Development Tourism), Youth Investment Fund, TYPS, STEP, YHMA, Dakwakada Development Corp.

This year’s youth conference was a platform for two new approaches to the conference. First, we partnered with Town Youth Participation Strategy (TYPS, a national organization based out of Ontario), to provide workshops for youth workers/community leaders in parallel to the youth workshops. They provided an opportunity for workers from urban and rural Yukon, Northern BC, and Inuvik to network, build support, explore ways to combat the isolation, and gain awareness, inspiration and motivation to continue or begin cross-community youth work.

BYTE’s second new approach was our “UR XPRESS sessions”. The youth participants were broken into teams at the very beginning of the conference and then were tasked with coming to a consensus with their team mates on which medium of expression they wanted to be a part of. The choices were audio, video, photography, performance, First Nation’s design, story/comic strip, or magazine making. They then learned how to express as a team using their chosen medium over the course of the conference. These team sessions occurred both on Friday November 21 and Saturday November 22, allowing them time to create a product from start to finish in the course of a weekend and have it displayed during closing ceremonies on the third day of the conference (Sunday, November 23). It also aimed to create an atmosphere where youth could meet new friends and learn about each other and different ideas throughout the conference.

As always, BYTE offered a variety of individually chosen workshops for the youth as well. The subjects were: world issues, climate change, aboriginal games, drum making, sports, dance, sexual education, street magic, and substance abuse. BYTE made these workshops available based on our youth survey responses. The issue based workshops provided youth with opportunities to learn more about issues they reported are important to them, as well as tools and resources to effect positive change in these areas. The more skills based workshops exposed the youth to new interests, as well as help them grow and explore preexisting skills in these areas. These workshops also allowed youth to learn about ways to fight boredom and build self-confidence. BYTE had our On-Call Facilitation team facilitating during the conference as much as possible to build upon their experience as well to showcase them to the youth and youth workers.

The conference entertainment for Friday November 21 was Hypnotist Trevor Kiitokii (again, based on request from youth surveys). His act was safe, clean and fun for youth. He is of First Nations decent and a motivational speaker. He also spoke at the conference opening ceremonies and was able to quite easily connect with youth, sharing stories of perseverance and inspiration. Trevor also facilitated the Street Magic workshop.

Saturday’s entertainment was the always popular annual Battle of the Bands. Opening the battle was the Dakwa Ka’an Dancers. A First Nation’s group of young people performing very profoundly traditional dances in full regalia. They brought their culture and tradition alive and present for the participants.

The dancers were followed by the Battle of the Bands, where seven youth bands preformed. Approximately 500 people gathered for the show. We had experienced youth judges Lauren Tuck (musician/promoter), Kyle Cashen (musician) and Alysha Rosenberger (from CHON 98.1fm). We also had strong representatives from different aspects of the music industry: Nicole Edwards (musician and founding member of BYTE), Bill Polonsky (from CJUC 92.5fm, and a BYTE radio program mentor), and Lewes McKenna (on behalf of Frostbite Music Festival).

The marketplace held approximately 10 vendor booths throughout the weekend where community organizations had a chance to engage with youth from Whitehorse and the rural north about some of their services, as well as give them tips, advice, and resources about making healthy life choices, or getting involved in community.

*Youth art was displayed throughout the hallways of the conference, providing a venue for youth to showcase their talent. Some of this art was incorporated into the UR XPRESS sessions, and then displayed at the Arts Center.
*Healthy snacks and meals were provided to participants and volunteers at the conference. Most of the ingredients were organic or natural ingredients, and farmed sustainably.
*Our Green Events Policy was in place at the conference.

Where BYTE’s at…

#2- 407 Ogilvie Street, Whitehorse, YT
phone - 867.667.7975
fax - 867.393.2112
email - events at yukonyouth dot com