YAN raises awareness through recent events and meetings

Premier Lorne Calvert, Lee Reaney, Victoria Morris and Danylo Puderak.

July 19
YAN Meets with Premier Calvert

YAN Staff Lee Reaney and Victoria Morris, along with UCC-SPC Executive Director Danylo Puderak, met with Premier Lorne Calvert and Special Advisor to the Cabinet Murray Gross on July 19 in Saskatoon and discussed opportunities for the Government of Saskatchewan to partner with Youth Action Now.

YAN and Premier Calvert also discussed the Gathering, scheduled for April 29-May 1, 2005, and the Premier expressed his interest in attending and participating in the conference.

July 10
Motif Multicultural Festival, Moose Jaw

Motif is Moose Jaw’s annual three-day outdoor multicultural festival. This festival provides an opportunity for many different cultures to come together and share their foods, dance, music and artwork. YAN Staff used the opportunity to network the program and its objectives. Staff particularly enjoyed the Indian food, Celtic music and Jamaican performers. For more about Motif or the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council, click here: http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/mjmul/

July 8
Saskatoon Project Leader Bowling

YAN Staff were proud to present YAN’s Bowl-O-Rama 2004 with Saskatoon Project Leaders Krupal Patel, Guylaine Patenaude, Lindsay Igini, Tahereh Haji, Demyan Prokopchuk, Gabriela Fuentealba and UCC-SPC Staff member Marko Baran. There were some creative shots and high scores throughout the night and a fun time was had by all. YAN Staff look forward to seeing the Project Leaders again in September.

June 29
Radio Canada International, Ukrainian Language Youth Program

YAN Project Leaders Demyan Prokopchuk and Tahereh Haji as well as YAN staff Victoria Morris and UCC-SPC Executive Director Danylo Puderak were interviewed for a radio special on Youth Action Now.

The Ukrainian presentation of RCI prepares programs about all aspects of Canadian life -- from economics to technology, from history to the lifestyle of the Ukrainian diaspora. This program reaches all corners of the globe on the short wave, along with the internet broadcast.

Demyan talked about what the purpose of the program was, and gave a short description of who he was.

Tahereh talked about what growing up in Canada was like, and shared her excitement with the project and its goals.

Danylo discussed how the project came about -- about a Ugandan mentorship program that Heritage Canada was really pleased with. He talked about how this preserves ethnic society, and how it makes good leaders out of the youth, because they are the ones that will be leading workshops around Saskatchewan in the fall. He also mentioned that the program allows for a broader knowledge and understanding of the world and its cultures.

The interview (in Ukrainian) can be downloaded here.

June 25
St-Jean Baptiste Day

St-Jean Baptiste came to be known as the patron saint of French Canadians as a result of the influence he had in New France as a new colony. St-Jean Baptiste Day is celebrated on June 24th. The Federation of Francophones of Saskatoon and l’École Canadienne-Française presented the St-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations on June 25th at l’École Canadienne-Française. YAN Staff Lee Reaney and Victoria Morris met Chef-de-Mission of TeamSask (for the Northern & Western Francophone Youth Games in Coquitlam, BC) & YAN Project Leader Guylaine Patenaude to celebrate and enjoy Francophone music and dancing.

June 22
“Celebrating Our Nations” Pow Wow

In conjunction with National Aboriginal Day celebrations, Wanuskewin Heritage Park hosted the "Celebrating Our Nations" Pow Wow. YAN Advisory Committee member Jason Zbytovsky, Project Leader Margarita Popoff and YAN staff met with Wanuskewin’s International Dance Director and YAN Advisory Committee member Lorin Gardypie to enjoy the festivities.