YAR // August 11th to 14th, 2009
History
The first Youth Activist Retreat (YAR) was held in 1999, and has continued to be an annual event. The retreat is founded on the premise that young people want to actively engage and participate in positive change in their communities, but are not often exposed to the ideas and opportunities that would allow them to do so. Although YAR is a stand-alone project with several sponsoring organizations and a volunteer Steering Committee, the initial retreat was a joint initiative of Choices: A Coalition for Social Justice, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba, and the Canadian Federation of Students Manitoba.
The Location
For the fourth year in a row, the retreat will be held in Clearwater, Manitoba, home of the Harvest Moon Society (HMS). The town is located two and half hours Southwest of Winnipeg and offers a number of different resources that are valuable to the retreat.
The schoolhouse in Clearwater, now named the Harvest Moon Centre, is no longer in use as a school but instead as a community resource center with educational programming. Workshops at the retreat will be ran out of this facility.
The HMS is a heartwarmingly small, volunteer-run group supporting rural communities and sustainable farming and food. More information about the Harvest Moon Society can be found at www.harvestmoonsociety.org