Métis Youth British Columbia selects 2016 Métis Youth Role Models
Press Release
April 1, 2016
Métis Youth British Columbia (MYBC) is proud to announce the five (5) 2016 Métis Youth Role Models who have been identified as amazing Youth in their communities. Métis role models promote healthy lifestyles, Métis culture and awareness, strengthen Métis identity and are actively involved in their community.
MYBC would like to congratulation the following Métis Youth Role Models:
1) Grayson Drew (Midori) Nagao
Métis youth, Grayson Drew (Midori) Nagao has been a worthy role model over the years. He has been the kind of individual who has authentically valued traditional Métis culture, and demonstrated that in his willingness to present and teach it to others. He has also stood up for his rights, and for the rights of others, whether those individuals are the majority or not. Grayson Drew (Midori) has dealt with adversity in life. He works hard at overcoming his challenges each day. It is these humble and charitable traits which have led me to honour and respect this youth and put forth this recommendation as someone worthy of being named a Métis Youth Role Model.
Grayson is a kind, empathetic, strong young man. He, like other
respected Métis before him, perseveres despite the challenges that the Creator has provided him. Not only is he growing from these opportunities, but he has been able to look beyond just himself and stand true to his Métis ancestry along the way. He has given it honour by being proud enough to show its beauty, serenity, and joyfulness to others, to teach it and embrace it as current and important regardless of its contrast to the fast paced technological world which tempts
our youth today. It is for this reason that I believe it important to recognize a youth such as this as a role model in 2016.
2) Madison Hendry
This is a nomination for Madison Hendry as the Métis Youth Role Model. Not only does Madi have an impressive list of accomplishments, activities and awards but she also promotes a
healthy lifestyle, Métis culture and awareness, strengthening Métis identity through her active involvement in her school, W.J. Mouat, and in her Métis local. Her sunny disposition, diligence, understated drive and competitiveness have propelled her to achieve very lofty goals.
At school, she is an active participant in the Aboriginal Program. Throughout high school, she has strengthened the Métis identity by promoting Métis culture and awareness, as a member of the Mouat Aboriginal Student Council which assists with organizing activities and events, such as jigging and sash weaving. Monthly, she helps facilitate a feast for her fellow Aboriginal students where she is very recognizable as a Métis leader. With this group, she travelled to Ottawa in 2014, researched her Métis roots at the Library and Archives, participated in a Métis kitchen party and met with Métis Nation Ontario youth representatives. An active member of the Fraser Valley Métis Association, she also served her community at a Christmas dinner and will be teaching them Michif classes this spring. She is pursuing a provincial scholarship for a 100 hour project on the Michif language, a first in our entire school district.
Champion of Métis culture and identity, promoter of healthy lifestyle, involved in her community, Madison Hendry is an outstanding Métis youth role model.
3) Fergus Dalton
Fergus Dalton’s commitment to always doing his best, overcoming challenges and celebrating who he is as a Métis Youth have already made him an excellent role model. If named officially in this capacity, I know he will work hard in the role and will make the Métis Nation proud of his leadership.
Hard work and determination continued to be his motto academically, as well. After a year of home schooling, Fergus struggled to return to public school. However, with determination, he overcame the struggles and graduated in 2015, with honours and a focus in Math and Physics. He was the recipient of a number of scholarships, including Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee Gwen Point Award, Sardis Secondary Alumni Rod Dyck Bursary, District/Authority Award Second Language, Aboriginal Education and the Joshua Enns Memorial Bursary.
For two years running, in 2014 and 2015, Fergus was the winner of Skills Canada Regional and Provincial Drafting Competition and went on to compete in Nationals, in Toronto. (At the age of 16, he was recruited to work as a mechanical draftsman, while still attending high school.) In 2015, Fergus represented Métis heritage and UFV at the Vancouver LNG conference, was a youth delegate at the UFV at Vancouver #BC Tech Summit, and became the winner of the Game Changer competition Mechanical CADD. In addition to all this, Fergus has demonstrated fine leadership skills as a participant in a youth panel on trades and tech alongside Shirley Bond, Andrew Wilkinson and other BC Ministries.
It has been an honour and a pleasure to know Fergus, teach him dance and to watch him grow from that ten year old boy into the respectable young man that he is today. He has shown strength of character that can be an example for people of all ages. If he were officially named as a Métis Youth Role Model for MNBC, I know he would continue to make our nation proud by leading the way and inspiring our nation’s youth.
4) Brittney Bertrand
Brittney Bertrand is a dedicated volunteer and role model for her community. She is currently taking an Aboriginal Stream Program through Douglas College’s Child and Youth Care Program. Her goal is to become an Aboriginal Youth Worker and an Advocate for Children and Youth in Care.
Brittney has faced many barriers in her young life. She did not have the family support to help her achieve the goals she longed for. Brittney was determined to break the generational cycle of poverty and addiction in her family. Not only has Brittney broken the cycle for her and her children, she is an inspiration to many other young mothers in similar situations.
Brittney has been a volunteer for a Youth Unlimited program called Young Families for about 3 years. Brittney is a dedicated mom with 2 children and hopes to one day share more of her Métis Culture with
her kids as well as the children and youth she works with. If anyone is deserving of this recognition it is definitely this girl. She is always on the go, trying to bring a positive light to her culture and she is so proud to be Métis. Brittney has been in the media over the past 5 years advocating for the youth she works with as well as sharing the ways she is making her community green by recycling old computer equipment through the Computers for Schools program.
Brittney is a person full of integrity. She is compassionate, hardworking and a great communicator. She has always had the ability to rise above her circumstances and walk through with strength of spirit and honesty. I know Brittney will continue to make her mark in the community and have a huge impact on those she works with!
5) Danielle Bruce
Danielle is an enthusiastic, hard working person who cares about people and the creatures and all living things. She always has a smile, a kind word to say and takes the time to share her knowledge and time with others. This can also be seen in the work she has done internationally and in Victoria. When she was 18 she travelled to Uganda and volunteered in an orphanage for
3 months. She was able to fundraise over $3000 to help them build a chicken coop project to assist the orphanage become self‐sustainable, and have a reliable form of income. She also volunteered at Our Place Society for 1 year in the kitchen before becoming more involved with her Métis community.
Danielle is currently a student at the University of Victoria in their Bachelor of Arts in Health and Community Services program. She is in the final semester of her program and will graduate with a specialization in Indigenous Health in June of 2016. As a part of her final semester, Danielle is completing a practicum placement with Bridges for Women, a non‐profit society that provides employment training programs to women who have experienced trauma. Danielle has received numerous scholarships and awards as a university student, the most recent being the Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award. This prestigious award is only given to one student in the faculty, and has provided Danielle with the opportunity to participate in qualitative research identifying outcomes and objectives for HIV supportive housing. Danielle will be presenting her research findings at the University of Victoria in early March. Danielle has applied to the University of Victoria’s Masters in Public Health program with a focus in Indigenous Health, in the hopes that she can continue her education. If accepted, she plans to study full time beginning September 2016. Danielle’s plan after school is to gain employment as a policy analyst, ideally in the non‐profit sector, where she hopes to enact positive change and reduce barriers experienced by indigenous people.
Each Métis Youth Role Models will receive $300 in gift cards, will be showcased on the Métis Nation British Columbia website, and will have opportunities to travel within the Province to Métis Youth gatherings and events. We would like to thank all the nominees who were submitted to the Métis Youth Role Model Campaign and encourage their nominators to re‐submit next year.
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