Earlier today, a trio of graduating McGill students were recognized for their strong ties with the community, earning three of seven Pathy Foundation Fellowships for 2022-2023.
The 12-month Fellowship provides community-focused experiential learning opportunities for graduating students of Bishop’s University, McGill University, Queen’s University, University of Ottawa and St. Francis Xavier University. Applicants submit a self-designed initiative proposal to work with a community with which they have a connection, to foster sustainable positive social change in Canada and around the world. The Pathy Family Foundation supports each Fellow with funding of up to $40,000.
The incoming Fellows will attend skill-building sessions and planning workshops at Coady Institute before commencing the nine-month community phase.
Here are McGill’s 2022-2023 Pathy Foundation Fellows and their descriptions of their respective projects:
Félix Aupalu
Community: Inuit people of the Canadian Arctic (Puvirnituq, Nunavik, Québec), Montreal
Initiative Synopsis: Inuit Youth Collaborating for a Bright Future
“I want to host small events and gatherings (online and in-person) that allow Inuit youth to share and discuss important topics and subjects; my initiative will aim to create spaces that encourage togetherness, celebrates excellence, and contributes to our vision of our future,” says Aupalu. “By creating these spaces for Inuit youth, this project will address our community’s ability to feel heard, collaborate on solutions, heal through community, and share stories of success. The gatherings will be both formal and informal in a way, and will be informed both by traditional and contemporary methods of community building.”
Attou Mamat
Community: Montreal Steppers, Montreal
Initiative Synopsis: Practicing Transformative Justice Through Art
“My initiative is a participatory art-based workshop program to introduce young Tioh;tia:ke/Montreal students to the feminist, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive principles of transformative justice,” says Mamat. “Although schools would serve as entry points for this program, my hope is for the project to be expanded to other community spaces where youths gather. Through poetry, dance, visual arts, and more, this project would help young people in Tioh;tia:ke/Montreal, with particular attention given to Black, Indigenous, and other racialized youths, develop the tools they need to provide care to each other and their communities.”
Jackie Stendel
Community: At-risk youth, LOVE, Montreal
Initiative Synopsis: Art and Environmental Belonging with At-Risk Youth
“My initiative is to introduce a program that explores social and environmental sustainability with at-risk youth through transformative social engagement,” says Stendel. “The program will engage youth by looking at the multifaceted nature of the climate crisis, possibilities to form reciprocal and grateful relationships with nature and methods of fighting for sustainability with art-creation methods. Through art-making and leadership activities, youth will find personal connections to environmental issues, form relationships to local ecologies, develop meaningful communities and work as a leader to inspire others.”
Read the Pathy Foundation announcement.