As 2023 comes to a close and school winds down for winter break, we’re taking a moment to reflect back over the past year. 2023 was a very regenerative time for BTCEA! We developed and delivered our Climate Action, Resilience, and Emotions (CARE) program in communities on the frontlines of wildfires in our province. And as an organization, we prioritized creating space to discuss what decolonization could look like both internally, and in our programming. Here are the highlights:
Introducing our new Leadership Team:
Dayna Margetts & Anna Tokunaga!
Dayna Margetts (she/her): Co- Executive Director: Education & Programs
Wayʼ iskʷist Dayna (Hello, my name is Dayna), I’ve been a teacher of middle and high school science for the past 20 years on the traditional, unceded lands of the syilx okanagan peoples in Kelowna, BC. I truly believe in the mission of Be the Change and am delighted to join the leadership team at BTCEA! Read more...
Anna Tokunaga (she/her): Co-Executive Director: Finance and Human Resources
Hi, I grew up in Jasper National Park on the Beaver, Cree, Ojibway, Secwépemc, Stoney, and Métis territories where my passion and love for nature developed. I have been a member of the BTCEA team since 2020 and am so excited to be joining the leadership team! Read more...
This year we were so excited to launch our new Climate Action, Resilience, and Emotions (CARE) program. With Canada’s worst wildfire season on record coming to a close, this program provides support to youth in frontline communities to explore their climate emotions in order to build resilience and foster agency. BTCEA launched a pilot CARE workshop in July with Qwelminte Secwépemc’s Knowledge Builder’s Program on the traditional territory of the Secwepemc Nation in Tk’emlúps, also known as Kamloops. The participants provided thoughtful and encouraging feedback to us so that we could more authentically ground our workshop in Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Inspired by what they experienced during our pilot, one of the Qwelminte Secwépemc participants joined our workshop facilitation team! 
This summer we engaged youth in libraries and community centers, before hosting CARE workshops in K-12 schools this fall. Our two-part workshops are facilitated by university student facilitators who employ compassionate truth-telling in order to create brave spaces for participants to explore climate change and related eco-emotions. One teacher reported:
My class was privileged to participate in two CARE workshop sessions, which my class and I found to be very informative, engaging, and interactive. As a teacher of 29 years, I was extremely impressed with the facilitator’s knowledge, organization, and ability to deliver engaging, relevant sessions with my class. I really appreciated how the workshop allowed students to talk about climate change in a well-informed and caring manner.
To date our CARE program has engaged over 300 youth, teachers and community members and we are only getting started! We are so proud to be supporting youth in this way!
2023 Program Highlights
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Empower youth by making a donation!
As a grassroots non-profit organization, Be The Change is dependent on the generosity of individuals like you! To help us keep our free student workshops, learning resources and teacher professional development up to date and equity-focused, please consider making a tax-deductible monthly donation of $5, $10, or $20 . Contributing the cost of a coffee and muffin can make a big difference to the ongoing work of BTCEA in BC schools.
We wish you a restful, safe, and warm holiday season and look forward to connecting with you in 2024.
Warmly,
Anna Tokunaga (she/her) Director of Finance and Human Resources
Dayna Margetts (she/her) Director of Programming and Education
This is where the concept of regenerative education comes in. Introduced to the BTCEA team by former staff member Jake, regenerative education calls on us to slow down and turn inward to consider our connection with the natural world. It asks us to examine the living systems that are breaking down due to violent human activity (such as fossil fuel extraction, destruction of Indigenous lands, and human-caused flooding and wildfires) and connect this breakdown with our own high levels of stress.
