Global Citizenship Youth Conference

ACIC is proud to create spaces where youth can engage with global issues, the Sustainable Development Goals, and shared knowledge from their peers and experts. The annual youth gathering has taken many shapes over ACIC’s history, but it remains consistent in its goal to provide 15-17 year-olds the opportunity to think globally about social justice. Starting in 2023, ACIC has supported 2 youth storytellers — 1 videographer and 1 photographer — in sharing impact stories from their conference experiences. Conference videos and photo galleries are linked below!

ACIC’s Global Citizenship Youth Conference brings young people from across Atlantic Canada together to explore global issues, share ideas, and build friendships. Through interactive workshops, creative activities, and conversations, participants connect issues in their own communities with wider questions of social justice and sustainability. This overnight gathering offers a welcoming space to learn about global citizenship, build confidence, and discover ways to take action, whether participants are new to these topics or already involved in their communities.

Applications for GCYC 2026 have now closed.

Applications for GCYC 2027 will tentatively open in Spring 2027

Past ACIC Youth Conferences:

Global Citizenship Youth Conference 2025

July 3-6, 2025 | Tatamagouche, NS

Forty-three youth from the four Atlantic provinces attended the 2025 Global Citizenship Youth Conference, attending workshops and activities with topics like:

Decolonial Joy,
Cyanotype (photography printing),
Photo Journalism talk with artist Ranz Bontogon,
I Am From Poetry,
Triangle of Oppression,
Sustainable Development Goals,
What’s Next Goal Setting,
and Farmers’ Market Scavenger Hunt

Global Citizenship Youth Conference 2024

July 11-14, 2024 | Tatamagouche, NS

This gathering brought together 40 youth from across Atlantic Canada and included topics such as:

Introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals
Youth Panel: Stories of Youth Engagement
My Intersectional Self
Art as Activism
Decolonization as an Act of Love

The conference also focused on the local-global connections to food security with the Tatamagouche Farmers’ Market and a scavenger hunt.

Global Citizenship Youth Conference 2023

July 13-16, 2023 | Tatamagouche, NS

The second Global Citizenship Youth Conference hosted 40 Atlantic Canadian youth. Workshop topics this year included:

Intro to the Sustainable Development Goals
Youth Panel: Stories of Youth Engagement
My Intersectional Self
Social Justice & Mental Health
The Decolonizing of Gender
Avenues for Social Advocacy