The Canadian Courage Project specializes in providing support to shelters that are able to house youth as well as their animal companions. Through our resources and opportunities, we promote courage to homeless youth and their pets while advocating for mental wellbeing for all. 

 

WHY? Animal companionship has a positive effect on mental health, however homeless youth often fall through the cracks. The reality is not all shelters are able to accommodate both owners and their pets. We want to promote companionship and offer individuals the support they need while navigating the hardships associated with poverty and hunger. 

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The societal instability and insecurity that the COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in has exposed longstanding inequalities for women and girls and threatens to negate many of the strides for equality made in recent decades. The Canadian Courage Project wants to ensure that national responses to COVID-19 include efforts to empower women and girls, providing them with the tools to challenge prevailing gender norms and stereotypes. Scaling up from our previous workshops we hope to provide Canadian youth with the opportunity to learn more about the importance of gender equity in the workforce while encouraging and empowering young women to see themselves in leadership roles within their community. 

 

In Canada, efforts towards gender parity in the workforce have slowed down and women remain underrepresented across several industries. The COVID-19 pandemic has only furthered this disparity, and the Canadian Courage Project seeks to address this need and inspire young women to make a change in their own community, as leaders and decision-makers. As the next generation of leaders, empowering youth to tackle contemporary issues of gender inequality has far-reaching benefits. Research has shown that the empowerment of women not only improves women’s health but also the health of their families and communities as well. 

 

Through discussion and skills-building, youth will leave the workshop cognizant of the current barriers to gender equality in the workforce and the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified structural inequities in their communities. 

 

These workshops are centered around three key foundational elements unique to the Canadian Courage Project:

 

• Empowering youth to be leaders in their communities guided by the Sustainable Developments Goals

• Utilizing animal therapy in sessions to support mental health and wellbeing

• Youth leading youth; the Canadian Courage Project is led by youth inspired to make a change in their communities and this positions CCP well to connect with fellow youth and build structures of support