At four in the morning, I started driving from Fort River, Alberta to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. An hour before arriving in Yellowknife, my car slipped on ice and fell into a snowbank. I stopped my car and shovelled the snow around the car for over half an hour, but I couldn’t get the car out. With the assembly time closeby, I started to worry. Thankfully, at the last minute, a gentleman stopped by, tied a rope to his truck, and pulled the car out. If he had shown up a mere ten minutes later, I would have been late.
Yellowknife is a rocky area with lots of mining activity. According to locals, St. Patrick’s burnt down and was rebuilt in 1991. During their rebuilding, they decided to build around the local Rockies to showcase nature. The stairs in the main hall includes a huge section of rocks.
Due to a local diamond mine, children from miners from around the world come to Yellowknife and attend high school, so it was a quite diverse group.
Around twenty five students came to the workshop after the assembly, evenly distributed across higher grades. Most of them were from the school’s Green Club or the Interac Club. Students had a very active discussion. I asked them, “What are the skills most necessary to create an impact?” They responded: “Creative thinking, cooperation, originality, wisdom and ethics, listening especially with people you disagree, compromise, and self-improvement.”
A student asked me, “I want to make an impact, but I don’t know where to start. What are other Canadian students doing to make an impact?”
This is why we do the tour. This is why I write these blog posts.
I write about youth-led solutions and projects from across Canada, so a miner’s child in Yellowknife can feel inspired to do the same. As I go from town to town, I’m physically mobile. But, 3% Project offers students a different kind of mobility: the mobility to think beyond their local context and yet, simultaneously, be mobilized to act in their local context.
Dear young person, whether from Smithers, British Columbia or Yellowknife, Northwest Territories: If you’re reading this, know that there are thousands of students across Canada that care; that are taking action; and that are fighting the good fight.
Sincerely,
Steve
