Youth Advisory Council

Pronouns: She/Her

Simi Sahota, is a passionate youth leader in her community. Simi has been a part of the Young Canadians’ Parliament (YCP), presented by Children First Canada, since its beginning.  Her work with Children First Canada has been multifaceted, from being a YCP Activator, to hosting events, being a panelist, volunteering as a facilitator and youth consultant. She now serves as the vice-chair of CFC’s National Youth Advisory Council (YAC).

Simi has also been an advocate for children’s right across Canada through her volunteer work with the Honourable Senator Rosemary Moodie’s bill on a National Child Commissioner for Children and Youth. She was a guest presenter at the 10th edition of the International Summer Course on the Rights of the Child at the Université de Moncton’s with Children First Canada, featured on Jodi Butt’s @risk podcast, and featured in her local newspaper discussing Raising Canada’s top 10 threats to childhood and how it affects her school community.

Pronouns: He/Him

Jayden is a dedicated bilingual 16 year old from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec. Jayden has always invested a lot of his time with his school’s community outreach programs and with other organizations that focus on helping others.

School hasn’t particularly been easy for him as he has had to overcome a lot of hurdles. In the last few years, he has won many awards and scholarships for his dedication, perseverance and involvement at school and in his community.

Jayden has been involved with Children’s First for more than two years now and is determined to bring focus to issues that are significant to kids across Canada.  His strengths are public speaking and he enjoys meeting new people.

Mégane (she/her) has experience on several youth advisory boards. She served on the RCMP National Youth Advisory Committee in 2019-2020 and on student councils for several years. Currently co-chair of the Children First Canada Youth Council, she works alongside young leaders from across the country to improve the society in which we all live. She wants to use her voice and platform to promote equity, children’s independence and good mental health. She believes that art, culture and knowledge should be made more accessible to all and that they should be a tool for the protection of children and human rights.

In the future, Mégane wants to go into medicine to specialize in traumatic surgery. Being a first medical responder since she was 16, she greatly appreciates enriching her experience in the medical field, which fascinates her greatly by the constant challenges, the need to quickly see all the possibilities, to push the limits of the imagination and science and to make things better during people’s worst times.In order to combine her keen interest in humanitarian aid and her love of medicine, Mégane wishes to be able to do work abroad as a doctor to facilitate access to medicine for all.”

Amelia Penney-Crocker, pronouns she/her, is 15 years old from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Amelia is passionate about climate change and women’s issues. When she was 12 she wrote a seris of book to teach children conflict resolution tools. Amelia continued to use writing as a tool for change when she took on a year long mission to write a letter a week to the Prime Minister about climate change. She also posts her letters on her website www.ameliapenneycrocker.com.

Anwar Boutahar is 14 years old from Toronto, Ontario. Anwar has years of experience in speaking publically, including television and is very active in advocating. Anwar has always paid attention to the issues that other people choose to ignore.

Roman Wolfli, pronouns he/him, is 14 years old from Calgary, Alberta. Roman has been engaged with Children First Canada for a number of years and believes that children deserve the same rights and freedoms as adults. Roman is a skilled public speaker and leader amongst his peers. Roman spends a lot of time developing fake history, geography, and politics for his imaginary country, Rojane.

Taylor Johnston, pronouns she/her, is 18 years old from Cutler, Ontario. Taylor turned 18 while applications were being considered. She has had extensive experience in leadership development, such as Ontario Education Leadership Camps, Tim Horton’s leadership camps, and more. She also has experience as a youth advisor as a part of a Northern Indigenous Youth Council for her school board. Taylor wants children to know that they matter and that they come first.

Lyric Becker, pronouns she/her, is 13 years old from Kelowna, British Columbia. This is Lyric’s first time on a youth advisory council but she is a big thinker who doesn’t want to wait to make a difference in the world. She thinks it is so important for children to understand that they have rights so that they can be empowered to speak up for themselves. It is important to ensure that Canadian children are aware of their fundamental rights. She is a passionate storyteller and fantasy writer, currently working on four separate novels!

Kamil has been involved in leadership and advocacy work for many years. In recent years, he has served as the Co-Founder, President and Chairman of The Board for Calgary’s Youth Community Council. In highschool he also sat as the Student Co-Chair of the Diversity and Equity committee, Chairman of the Student Senate and Vice-President of his Interact Club.

Kamil is also a strong community advocate; he has served as Co-Chair on the Calgary Mayor’s Youth Council and is heavily involved within Rotary International’s District 5360; serving in many capacities at the local, provincial, national and international levels.

Kamil has also served as the President of the Calgary Ismaili Youth High School Club for the Prairies and was selected as one of five youth from across Canada to attend Global Encounters; a global leadership summit based in Pakistan. Most recently, Kamil has transitioned to university at the University of British Columbia and has joined the UBC Rotaract Club in which he serves as the Vice-President External and as Chair for Rotary International’s first ever Interact Advisory Council in which he advises the Rotary International President and represents 350,000 students from around the world.

Externally, he has undertaken the position of National Chairman of The Canadian Leaders United Summit, Co-Founder and Chairman of Flatten The Curve Canada, Vice-Regional Board Member for the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for the Prairies, been elected as a Arts Undergraduate Society Representative to the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia in which he has served as Vice-Chair of the Governance Committee and a member on its Finance, Advocacy and Equity Committees, a Model Senator with the Senate of Canada and has been elected Chair of the Children First Canada Youth Advisory Council. In addition, he has worked with the City of Calgary as a Junior Recreation Leader and served as Chief Partnerships Officer with a technology startup company called Popular Innovations Inc.

These roles have allowed Kamil to speak before the Senate of Canada on Youth Engagement, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child as a member of the Canadian Delegation, receive two Paul Harris distinctions along with the likes of US President Jimmy Carter, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar and others, the Rotary Club of Calgary Service Above Self Award, the Mayor’s Special Recognition of Service, the UBC Centennial Scholars Award, a TD Community Leaders Finalist recognition, a Western Canada High School Lifetime Honors award, the Julia Turnbull Leadership Award, the Education Matters Future Leaders Award, the Owen Heart Foundation Honorarium and the United Way’s recognition as one of the strongest community builders in Southern Alberta.

Thalia Bueno, pronouns she/her, is 16 years old from Vaughan, Ontario. Thalia has not been on a youth advisory council before but she believes in advocating for and empowering vulnerable people within our society. She is ready to provide input when analyzing policies and help promote events through mobilization of youths. Thalia was on the poster for the Easter Seals Ontario’s fundraising campaign between 2014-2017. You could find her face all over malls, public transit and libraries.