Canadian Indigenous Youth Kick-off the national My Vaxx

OTTAWA, Feb. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC), along with Indigenous Youth Working Group on Vaccine Uptake, announce the official launch of the nationwide My Vaxx Journey COVID Kicks video giveaway. The youth-led My Vaxx Journey social media campaign kicks-off on February 7, 2022 and is open to First Nations, Inuit and Metis youth across Canada ages 12-29.

My Vaxx Journey aims to honour the voices of Indigenous Youth in Canada through the sharing of videos that speak to their own vaccine journeys. Each video entrant that meets giveaway criteria will be eligible to receive a pair of Retro Air Jordan 4s. Giveaway requirements, rules, consent, and Terms and Conditions are available at myvaxxjourney.ca.

The My Vaxx Journey campaign has been made possible through the important collaboration from the National and regional members of the national Indigenous Youth Working Group on Vaccine Uptake, with membership from across Canada. It was important to the youth working group to have the campaign brand developed by Indigenous talent, and are pleased that the Winnipeg-based and Indigenous led creative agency, Vincent Design creative agency, created a look and feel that resonates with Indigenous Youth.

Retro Air Jordan 4s were provided to the Indigenous youth-led initiative as an in-kind contribution through an anonymous donation, and kindly redirected to the campaign to encourage Youth participation through the National Reconciliation Program at Save the Children.

The Indigenous Youth Working Group on Vaccine Uptake is composed of various First Nations, Inuit and Metis who identified the need to create a campaign that was created for Indigenous Youth, by Indigenous Youth. Youth Co-Chair Montana Massicotte, stated the working group would, “create a safe space and give a voice to Indigenous youth to express their motivations for getting the vaccine and ways to address hesitancies such as racism in healthcare, mistrust of government, and other historical injustices. The representation of Indigenous youth across the country allowed diversity and for the campaign to be grounded in what we bring to the table; Indigenous knowledge/teachings, our Indigenous languages, and honouring our voices. It has been a wonderful experience to work with vibrant and passionate Indigenous youth across the country to create health messaging to keep us protected and that resonates with our community.” 

Brendan Wood “I believe to really resonate with Indigenous Youth, we have to come together to create honest messaging. It’s been amazing to see Indigenous Youth come together to identify and address key hesitations in vaccinations such as mistrust of government, systemic racism, historical injustices, etc.”

Jocelyn Formsma, Executive Director of NAFC, emphasized the youth-led campaign plays an important role during this stage of the pandemic stating, “The National Association of Friendship Centres is proud to partner with the Indigenous Youth Working Group on Vaccine Uptake on the My Vaxx Journey campaign. The voices of Indigenous youth are an important part of our communities, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to support a campaign that is Indigenous youth-led to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancies and encourage vaccine confidence among Indigenous youth. We are excited to hear the stories from Indigenous youth across Canada about their vaccine journeys through the My Vaxx Journey campaign.”

The My Vaxx Journey campaign accounts which are found on the following social media platforms:

Facebook: @MVJ_IndigenousYouth
Instagram: @myvaxxjourney
Twitter: @myvaxxjourney
TikTok: @myvaxxjourney 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKaha3i85IZjmx5lq4Ka_mg

NAFC and the Indigenous Youth Working Group on vaccine uptake encourage all Indigenous Youth to participate in this My Vaxx Journey campaign, and let their voices be heard.

For more information, please contact:
John Paillé, Project Coordinator
National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC)
Email: jpaille@nafc.ca 
Phone: (613) 563-4844 

About NAFC
The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) was established in 1972 to represent, nationally, the growing number of Friendship Centres emerging across Canada. The NAFC represents over 100 Friendship Centres and Provincial/Territorial Associations (PTAs) from coast-to-coast-to-coast and make up the Friendship Centre Movement (FCM).

About the Indigenous Youth Working Group on Vaccination
The Indigenous Youth COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Working Group was established in the spring of 2021 and is comprised of Indigenous youth from across Canada. The working group was created to provide strategic advice and direction on vaccine uptake as well as to include Indigenous youth’s perspectives and realities into the COVID-19 vaccine strategy.