2025 Gathering Our Voices Conference Welcomes Indigenous Youth from across BC to Kamloops

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From March 18–21, 2025, the annual Gathering Our Voices Indigenous Youth Leadership Conference brought together over 1,000 Indigenous youth from across BC in Kamloops.

For 21 years, Gathering Our Voices has been providing empowering experiences for Indigenous Youth to connect with their culture, celebrate their identities, and develop leadership skills. Throughout the conference, students engaged in leadership workshops, cultural sharing, and networking opportunities aimed at empowering the next generation of Indigenous leaders.

This year's conference was hosted in venues across Kamloops, including Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Tournament Capital Centre (TCC), and Valleyview Secondary School. Hosting the 2025 event in Kamloops offered organizers the opportunity to highlight the richness of Secwépemc culture and traditions.

The conference kicked off with Opening Ceremonies at the TCC on March 18, 2025. With an opening prayer from Freda Jules, music from DJ Kookum, drumming from Sage Hills, and remarks from Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir, the Opening Ceremony set the tone for the entire event by encouraging students to make new connections, become leaders in their communities, and amplify each other’s voices.

With 65 students attending from Kamloops-Thompson School District, the District was excited to see this incredible event offered in Kamloops and honoured to provide transportation assistance for the conference and offer Valleyview Secondary as a workshops venue, using classrooms for various workshops and the gym for events like the Mini Pow Wow.

“We were excited and honoured to work with the Gathering Our Voices organizers to facilitate this event and to showcase our school, our district, and our community,” shared Chris Horton, Vice-Principal of Valleyview Secondary. “It is safe to say that the impact of this event was felt from the first moments of the Opening Ceremonies, through the workshop opportunities, to the power of the Sage Hills drummers at the mini pow-wow in the VSS gym, and to the closing ceremonies. We are so proud to have hosted Indigenous youth from all over BC, Kamloops, and the District who will tell stories in their own communities of their shared experiences here in Kamloops.”

Thank you to the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and all the event organizers for offering this incredible event for Indigenous students across the province to gather and learn here in Kamloops.