Catch da Flava Radio - Native Canadian Centre of Toronto (NCCT)

By -
For our May 22nd episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, host Travis invited a very animated, fun guest from the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, Edward Cyr. Starting with assisting members of the NCCT with housing concerns, he gradually moved to different departments and now works with youth for the organization. He chatted with us about how NCCT was created as an alternative outlet for the Indigenous community who did not find a lot of community meeting space that were not Christian and consequently places they couldn’t identify with. Now gradually becoming bigger and better, it serves a huge community and even invites people who don’t identify as Indigenous.

In discussing the various programs available at the centre, Edward chatted with Travis about the Okichitaw Indigenous Martial Arts Program and specifies how this is a different type of martial arts, specific to the Indigenous community. Most of what we know of martial arts originates from China and stars like Jacky Chan and Bruce Lee have made it famous. Okichitaw is a different type that doesn’t originate from China and Edward mentions that in this practice, it is taught how to kill attackers and steal their belongings, which was essential in the time it was created. Now it has evolved to a self-defence practice and still very much respectable. There are a lot of other great youth services for the community, but also many more that look toward other age groups.

We would like to greatly thank Edward Cyr for coming on air and chatting about the wonderful resources at NCCT and for bringing his great energy and vibrancy to our studio. For more information on the organization, check out their website: http://ncct.on.ca

Listen to Podcast:


Download MP3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Camping with the Divas Girls Group

By -
Image
This past week the girls group headed to Guelph for a three day retreat to celebrate the end of this year’s program. It rained almost the entire time, but we still managed to have a great time! For many of the girls it was the first time they had been out of the city. They were excited to go canoeing, take part in a scavenger hunt and spend time in the conservation area exploring and drawing in their sketch books. Because of the rain we also came up with lots of creative ways to have fun inside. We painted tote bags, learned to cook lots of delicious food, and put on a “Kids Canadian Idol” show. The girls all said they wished the trip could have been longer and were already planning next year’s trip on the way home.
Read more

Catch da Flava - Discussing Mental Helath and Peacebuilders

By -
Image
On today's Catch da Flava radio show for Tuesday, January 14, 2020, we focused on two separate but intertwined issues. They were youth mental health and the youth justice system. Our hosts were Shajuanah and Jamelia with co-hosts Kaila, Thalia, and Fazra. Our guests for the mental health segment was Michelle Cauch, a Student Success Advisor at Centennial College and Michelle Galeotalanza, a mental health professional and professor at Centennial College. They discussed what is mental health, why is youth mental health important, why is youth mental health different from the other age groups, what are the major youth mental health issues, where should the youth get help, how can they seek trusting professionals to speak to on issues of mental health? These were just a few of the many interesting topics and questions we discussed. Our guest for the next segment was Rachelle Bloomfield, a staff, leader, and counselor at Peacebuilders. Peacebuilders is a nonprofit organization
Read more

Catch da Flava - Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

By -
Catch da Flava’s topic for our third week was abortion, from how to get an abortion in Canada, the Unplanned pro-life film, and people’s personal opinions about pro-life and pro-choice. The hosting was done by André and Iman since I lost my voice, but I was still there listening to the conversation. Our 11 am to 12 pm timeslot was slightly hijacked in the beginning by our guest Minerva Navasca, who wished a very happy 19th birthday to our other guest Lorena Florea. Happy birthday Lorena, you’re finally 19! After we got the show back on track Minerva and Lorena gave their opinions about being pro-choice, and how the pro-life side is adapting to the times. We also discussed the Unplanned movie, an adaptation about Abby Johnson’s switch from pro-choice to pro-life. After Lorena and Minerva, we had Carolyn Egan from Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada to answer some questions about the current abortion system in Canada and what their organization is doing to help women. Carolyn also
Read more