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23 # R I S I N G Y O U T H C O M M U N I T Y I M P A C T V O L . 2 I often say that I had no idea how just telling my story could make such a difference... Building Bridges Through the Ballantyne Project Dwight Ballantyne D wight Ballantyne grew up in a remote northern Saskatchewan First Nation called Montreal Lake Cree Nation until the age of 21. After moving to Maple Ridge, British Columbia as an adult, he realized that there were many Canadians he met who had no idea what a reserve was and, even if they did, were not aware of the living conditions. After an opportunity to represent Team Canada at an international hockey tournament in 2019, Dwight made the decision to use his own personal life experiences to raise awareness about life for the many Indigenous people who live on reserves. Since then, Dwight founded The Ballantyne Project, a proud Indigenous youth-led organization that works towards bringing awareness to Canadians about the unique challenges faced by individuals living in remote Indigenous communities, with a specific focus on youth and young adults. With the support of the #RisingYouth grant, Dwight and The Ballantyne Project produced Canadian Residential Schools: The Survivors & Their Descendants, a video that has been used as an educational tool shared with educators and administrators in several provinces across Canada. They also mailed out brochures to educators and administrators in school districts all across British Columbia to share information about The Ballantyne Project and their #WeSeeYou campaign designed to raise awareness about life for youth and young adults in remote Indigenous communities. "I often say that I had no idea how just telling my story could make such a difference," said Dwight reflecting on his journey creating The Ballantyne Project. "My story seemed insignificant to me, but once I started to share it, I realized that I can use my voice to start to build a bridge between youth and young adults living in remote reserves and youth and young adults in more urban settings." The short-film Dwight made to shed light on the true nature of residential schools.