In October, Childrens First Canada held their Future is Now awards. These awards honour 10 youth across Canada leading change in a big way. Before the awards, the celebration of youth and the future of our world started with a Changemaker Youth Summit with 50 young leaders in participation.

The Future is Now Awards honoured 10 young leaders: Ainara Alleyne, Angelika Bell, Cailyn Sinclair, Céline Zhang, Clayton Yang, Janessa Dumas Colomb, Kamran Shukoor, Megan Sooah Webster, Oluwafemi David Ojo-Abegunde and Santiago Proteau-Sanchez. They work ranges in advocacy, political involvement, care for the environment, community engagement, fundraising and creating media channels to support their communities. Major sponsors include Mantella Corporation, Rogers, FACE Toronto, MacKenzie & William Sievert, The Bitove-Naumovich Family, Bassett Events and others.

The evening awards took place at Park Hyatt with entertainment including the Splash Children’s Choir, Toronto Youth Poet Laureate Shahaddah Jack and Harmony Holder with Ayla Pearl. The evening was inspirational, a wake-up call to adults to trust in youth and an event of celebration. This event comes 10 years into celebrating Children’s First Canada. A major congratulations to Sara Austin for 10 years of youth advocacy.

