Dilico Anishinabek Family Care celebrates Step Up Kids Awards recipients

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM — Dilico Anishinabek Family Care celebrated 10 Step Up Kids Awards recipients during the Gakina Maamawedaa (Everyone Together) 7th Annual Pow Wow on Nov. 14 at the Fort William First Nation Community Centre. This year’s Step Up Kids Awards recipients were Bryar Solomon, Emmy Badanai, Eli Bannon, Naomi Sagutch, Cheyne West, Brady Liddicoat, Liz Enns, Karter Robinson-Sagutcheway, Davina Johnson-Bouchard (DJ), and Trighten Wanakamik.

“Our team was blown away by the stories that were shared,” says Audrey Sawchyn, assistant director of Child Welfare at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care. “From kids raising money for causes they believe in, to those caring for family members, creating art, sharing their culture, and just being awesome humans, the nominations remind us all that small actions can make a big impact. Step Up is about empowering kids to believe in themselves and to know that they have the power to create change.”

The Step Up Kids Awards recognize children who go above and beyond to make a difference in their schools, families, and communities.

“It’s about telling kids they have a voice, it’s about telling kids they have the power to make change, that their dreams are worth speaking out, and they’re worth putting out there for everybody to know,” Sawchyn says. “I’m very proud of all of them, each and every one of them have their own story and each and every one of them are definitely the future of what we want to see in our kids.”

The Step Up Kids Awards recipients were also recognized with a Jingle Dress Honour Song during the pow wow.

“Recognition builds confidence,” Sawchyn says. “When we take time to notice and celebrate our kids, we show them that they belong, that their voices and dreams matter and that they have an important place in our community.”

Johnson-Bouchard, a Grade 12 student at Geraldton Composite High School and a Long Lake #58 citizen, was honoured to receive the Step Up Kids Award again after first receiving the award in 2018.

“I was a president of an anti-bullying club and I feel so honoured to be getting it again,” Johnson-Bouchard says. “I just want to give a big shout-out to my teachers that believed in me.”

Johnson-Bouchard says her goal is to pursue a teaching degree as an Anishinaabemowin teacher. She has already been getting hands-on experience through her co-op program as an education assistant in the Grade 9 Ojibwe class.

“I help out with lots of (Anishinaabemowin) programs, I’m on the Indigenous youth council and then I also do a whole bunch of Elder events,” Johnson-Bouchard says.

Johnson-Bouchard says she has always wanted to be a teacher since she was young, noting that her younger sibling doesn’t have an Anishinaabemowin teacher in his school.

“I don’t want him to lose the language because for me, I lost the language for a little bit,” Johnson-Bouchard says. “I don’t want my brother to be losing our language, so that’s why I’m trying to become an (Anishinaabemowin) teacher so no other kids lose their language.”

Bannon, a student at C.D. Howe Public School and a Fort William citizen, says he was recognized with the Step Up Kids Award for being a leader and bringing the sport he loves, football, into another community. He organizes friendly games at recess, showing classmates how fun the sport can be, and encouraging others to join the Thunder Bay Minor Football league.

“I have more people coming in on the sport that I love and trying new things out, meeting new people, and honestly, they’re becoming a bigger leader than I am,” Bannon says. “I’ve loved the sport, I’ve played it for the last seven years now. The thing I love about the sport the most is meeting new people.”