Youth Advisory Team Does Montreal

Why We Went

In late October 2025, the Youth Advisory Team ventured east to present a beta, almost pre-alpha version of the Youth Resiliency Hub at the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness’ National Conference in the heart of Montreal. The event brought together leaders, social workers, policymakers, and youth advocates from across Canada who are working to address youth homelessness and improve mental health support for at-risk youth. We were on a mission to network and showcase our plan to connect at-risk youth with mental health support, employment assistance, and housing. The Youth Resiliency Hub aims to simplify access by creating a centralized, youth-informed platform where young people can find reliable, relevant resources before crises escalate. 

 Magical Montreal

I’d never spent any proper time in Montreal, and my birthday was in the middle of the trip, so I was ecstatic to go. Torontonians romanticize Montreal like it’s a theme park. For anglophones, the French must be as exotic as the Magic Kingdom. I couldn’t sleep the first night there, so I wandered around town at 4 am. The actual theme park was serene at night, but I was stepping over a mountain of litter on every sidewalk. It was still beautiful. The abundance of people jogging alone at night made me feel safer.

Meeting People 

The conference occurred at the gorgeous Montreal Convention Centre. This monolithic, airport-terminal-esque building housed a city’s worth of social-impact workers. Low funding and lack of support can wear you down when you’re trying to save the world. Polishing the brass on the Titanic can throw your back out. Everybody there deserved some pampering and recognition. After lunch, I sat on a lawn chair by the sacred Indigenous fire pit, breathing in the history, the legacy. The other Indigenous guys asked if I was Indigenous. I told them I was half Chinese, half Egyptian. One dude said I was indigenous to China and Egypt. I’d never thought about it like that. They were so nice to me.

 Feedback

Our presentation was adored. People broke into tears, saying the Youth Resiliency Hub is what the world needs. The youth are fighting back. Other organizations approached us, saying they’d love to see our idea scaled nationally. Someone in a cowboy hat started talking about the Seven Fires Prophecy. The Anishinaabe foretold of a fork for humanity, where we must choose between the environment and technology. The latter leads to our extinction. That prophecy didn’t leave my mind until I got back to Toronto. What a fascinating prediction. In a world choosing between technology and the environment, we’re building a website. Can we prove that technology can serve the community rather than destroy it? Next year’s conference is in Winnipeg. I hope we get to go this year and show off all the progress we’ve made and all the youth we’ve helped.