Hailey Stone wins Junior Citizen of the Year

Her and the other youth gathered in Ottawa to come up with Five Calls to Action on education and presented them to all levels of government, leadership and the national education partners. She was one of 10 chosen from that group to return this year to help develop a plan to implement these action plans.

Stone was also chosen to participate in another youth conference in Toronto called 2019 Canada We Want —Taking It Global. Their mandate was to empower youth so they could act on the world’s greatest challenges. She applied for a grant through the program to support the Gateway to Success program at NBCHS with the goal of hiring an elder to teach Cree Classes to help preserve the language. Her grant was approved and the class was offered to students at NBCHS.

NBCHS also awarded Stone with the Mental Health Capacity Building award at NBCHS for a workshop she facilitated with support from Taking It Global at her school on mental health and education. Her goal was to help remove the stigma of mental illness.

Stone is a youth representative for the Battle Youth Network in the Battlefords and helped facilitate and speak at their forum. Battle Youth Network brings together agencies and organizations working with youth to share information and identify and fill in the gaps.

She is also a part of the Youth Speakers Bureau for the Office of Treaty Commissioner. The organization’s goal is to build strong relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Saskatchewan to support a shared future. Stone is currently being trained to do public speaking on Treaty and Reconciliation.

Amber Metlewsky, who helped nominate Stone, said she is always striving to improve her community, not just for herself but for everyone she meets.

“Hailey always takes leadership roles fearlessly in hopes to make this world a better place. She speaks for those who do not have a voice. Hailey’s strengths are her exemplary interpersonal and public speaking skills, she is able to connect with people quickly and leaves a lasting impression because of her charismatic attitude,” she said.

Leanne Ducommun, manager of marketing and communications at Discovery Co-op, said it was Stone’s willingness to take on leadership roles that really made her stand out among her peers.

“Hailey’s leadership is absolutely exceptional. We had some very excellent nominations but Hailey really stood out because of her leadership and the roles she is taking on at the young age of 16,” she said. “It is going to be extremely impressive to see where she is going with her future, we are very proud of her,” she added.

Hailey Stone with 1050 CJNB’s Grant Schutte (Mike Aimoe/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Yesterday, Stone learned she won the award. She said she was proud to receive it and happy to see her hard work was starting to bear fruit.

“I am honoured to have been able to receive such a prestigious award from my home community. I am blessed to be given such an amazing award because of all the hard work I’ve put in and the changes I’ve wanted to happen are starting to become a reality,” she said.

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Keaton.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Keaton Brown

Hailey Stone wins Junior Citizen of the Year

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