Young People’s Participation in Envisioning Community Change:

It is vitally important that Indigenous youth are provided a forum to express and share their expertise and knowledge on all matters that affect and impact their lives.  Through the use of photo-voice, this qualitative study provided the space for eleven youth from (location withheld for review) to share their perspectives on their community and environment, their lives, and how they conceptualize childhood. Employing the theoretical frameworks of the Sociology of Childhood, children’s rights, desire-centred research framework, and an Indigenous culturally responsive method, four over-arching themes emerged – the importance of: i) relationships; ii) health and well-being; iii) knowledge; and iv) community and culture. The youth in this study demonstrated their capacity to identify and share their unique perspectives on their community and proficiencies in assessing their community’s strengths and challenges – further demonstrating that youth are not merely passive subjects of social structures, but competent citizens able to contribute to change in authentic ways.