CIPR – Indigenous Identities Verification Process: Advisory Circle Application (October 2025)

Indigenous Youth Roots is in the processes of developing an organization-wide Indigenous Identity Verification Process. To help guide the development and implementation of process in a good way, we are forming an Advisory Circle of Indigenous youth as well as young people who are past Indigenous participants of IYR programming and initiatives.

About the Indigenous Identity Verification Process at IYR

We are developing this process in order to be accountable to Indigenous youth and ensure the safety and integrity of our programming spaces. We recognize that communities and Nations themselves hold the right to determine who is a part of them, and we are not seeking to define Indigeneity, rather take direction from communities themselves and develop a process that honours this.

As part of developing this process, we held an in-person engagement at our Gathering in Whitehorse this summer, as well as five distinctions-based online sharing circles. The purpose of these engagements was to understand youth experiences with these processes, why they matter, and what it means to honour diverse Indigenous identities and impacts of colonial policies and practices while building out a thoughtful process.

As these sessions have wrapped up, we are beginning to form an Advisory Circle to continue guiding this process.

About the Advisory Circle

The Advisory Circle will be comprised of Indigenous youth (18-29) and as well as young people who are past Indigenous participants of IYR programming and initiatives (over 29 years old). If you are over 29, but have participated in IYR programming and initiatives, you are still welcome to apply! We will strive to have a diverse range of voices and experiences represented in the Advisory Circle.

The Advisory Circle will meet online, with meeting frequency likely ranging from once a month to every two months (subject to change). We expect to hold 10-12 meetings over a 16-month period, with an anticipated start time of December 2025. Each meeting would be about 2 hours in length. Advisory Circle members will be provided with a $300 honorarium per meeting attended.

The Advisory Circle will also be a part of the review of applicable guiding documents and of the draft process. In preparation of scheduled meetings, and as an advisory member, we would ask members to commit time to reviewing these documents as they are developed and shared with the Advisory Circle.

Application Process

After filling out this application, IYR staff will reach out to short-listed applicants to schedule a brief chat over Zoom.

While we would love to be able to have everyone who applies join the Advisory Circle, this unfortunately isn’t possible. In selecting applicants, part of what we will prioritize is ensuring there are a diverse range of voices at the table. We anticipate contacting only short-listed applicants. We thank everyone for their application to the Advisory Circle and look forward to seeing you at future IYR programming.

Estimated Timeline (subject to change):

• Deadline to submit application: Friday, October 17, 2025, at 11:59 PM Eastern
• Contact short-listed applicants: Anticipated by Friday, October 24, 2025
• Hold conversations over Zoom: Anticipated Monday, October 27 – Thursday, October 30, depending on applicant’s availability
• Contact successful applicants: Anticipated by Friday, November 7, 2025