Stories of Change
Stories of Change highlight the real-life impact of SCIC’s work by sharing how individuals, communities, and organizations experience meaningful transformation through global citizenship initiatives. These stories bring complex change to life — showing shifts in knowledge, attitudes, behaviour, confidence, and leadership — and demonstrate how our programs and partnerships help make that change possible.
By connecting project activities to personal experiences, Stories of Change illustrate how our theory of change works in practice and why global cooperation matters.
Each story offers a window into the journeys of those driving progress across Saskatchewan and beyond.
Lucrécia Fuhrmann
This month, we are proud to highlight Lucrécia Fuhrmann, an international educator originally from Brazil whose work reflects the power of global learning in action. After completing her PhD in Education in December 2025, Lucrécia continues to bring a deeply thoughtful and interdisciplinary approach to teaching, shaped by both her academic journey and her commitment to global citizenship.
Lucrécia has been an active member of SCIC’s Reading Circle since 2019, where educators and community members come together to explore global issues through literature and dialogue. In 2025, she took on a leadership role by facilitating a book reading series, creating space for meaningful conversations and sharing inquiry-based approaches to teaching. Her work focused on bridging disciplines, exploring how literature can be used as a powerful tool to support science education and foster critical thinking in the classroom.
Through her engagement with SCIC’s Global Citizenship Education (GCE) resources and training, Lucrécia has further enriched her teaching practice by integrating global perspectives into her classroom. Her approach encourages students to think beyond borders, connect ideas across subjects, and see themselves as part of a larger, interconnected world.
For Lucrécia, education is not only about knowledge, but about possibility. As she reflects, “When we work together across boundaries and communities, we help people build their lives, and our children truly believe their lives can be better.”
Her work is a powerful reminder that when educators are supported with the right tools, networks, and opportunities, they can inspire the next generation to imagine and create a more just and sustainable world.
Munatas (Taz) Mohamed
In 2025, Taz participated in the Cooperation Canada Leaders’ Forum in Ottawa as a youth delegate representing SCIC. The Forum brought together senior leaders and emerging changemakers from across Canada to reflect on the future of international cooperation and how the sector can work more collaboratively and inclusively to respond to global challenges.
Before attending, Taz’s work was grounded in local, community-based spaces and her university, where she was actively engaged in social justice, advocacy, and youth representation. While she was already part of these conversations, stepping into a national leadership forum initially felt intimidating. Surrounded by experienced leaders, she questioned whether her voice would carry the same weight.
The Forum became the experience that shifted this perspective. Through intergenerational dialogue and open conversations with sector leaders, Taz began to see that youth perspectives are not supplementary — they are essential. Engaging in national-level discussions helped her understand how grassroots advocacy and lived experience connect directly to policy, decision-making, and international cooperation.
The most meaningful change came in how Taz understood her role within the sector. Rather than viewing leadership as something to work toward later, she now sees youth participation as something that should happen now. Since the Forum, she has remained engaged in youth-led and community-based initiatives, applying what she learned and encouraging other young people to see themselves as capable contributors to meaningful change.
Today, Taz moves forward with greater confidence, clarity, and a strengthened commitment to inclusive and representative approaches to international cooperation.
Syndel Thomas-Kozar
In July 2025, Syndel, a youth Indigenous advocate first joined SCIC by attending Generating Momentum, Saskatchewan’s youth summit for bold changemakers rooted in global justice, gender equality, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Before attending, her work was centered on local and national Indigenous youth wellness, identity-based policy, and gender equity. She had strong community relationships and experience advocating in Indigenous spaces, yet had not fully connected this work to international movements or viewed herself within the global landscape.
Generating Momentum became the opportunity that shifted this view, “The biggest change I experienced through Gen Mo was a shift in how I understood my work in relation to global citizenship and international cooperation”
Through interactive learning spaces, workshops on advocacy, and dialogue with peers and mentors, they began to recognize that her community-rooted work was not separate from broader global movements. Conversations about Indigenous rights, youth empowerment, and social equity helped her understand how these issues are embedded within the SDGs and are part of international cooperation efforts. The experience built new confidence, broadened her perspective, and deepened her sense of belonging in global spaces.
The most meaningful change came in how Syndel understood her role: community-based Indigenous advocacy is global change-making. With that realization, she began pursuing international opportunities, eventually being selected as a delegate for CSW70 at the United Nations which is an opportunity she attributes directly to the confidence, clarity, and network that emerged during GenMo. What began as a single gathering has now become an ongoing partnership with SCIC, grounded in shared values and mutual support. Today, Syndel feels empowered not only to advocate locally, but to shape conversations at national and global levels and carry forward the understanding that community-driven change contributes to international progress.
Jonah Toth
Jonah Toth is the founder and executive director of passion2action, a grassroots youth empowerment organization working to develop the next generation of community leaders in Saskatchewan. He serves on SCIC’s Youth Advisory Committee and has facilitated sessions at recent SCIC Generating Momentum (‘GenMo”) Youth Leadership camps.
An interdisciplinary thinker, Jonah completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto with courses ranging from chemistry and calculus to political science and Indigenous studies. He went on to earn a masters in chemical engineering from McGill University to gain an engineer’s perspective on problem-solving.
While school took Jonah out of Saskatchewan, it only strengthened his commitment to community-building back home. As he reflects, “there is incredible potential in Saskatchewan to leverage the strength of our communities and take local action and create global impacts”.
As the founder of passion2action Youth Empowerment, Jonah has built a platform to develop leadership skills and foster active citizenship in young people throughout the province. In eight years, the youth-led non-profit has engaged over 28,000 young people in over 50 communities throughout Saskatchewan. He is driven to help young people realize their potential and take action on issues close to home and around the world.
Jonah serves as the Manager of Community Partnerships at the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, where he builds collaboration in the charitable sector, supports municipalities to strengthen their communities, and helps guide collective impact.
Melanie Wilkinson
Melanie Wilkinson’s educational experience has taken her from her first teaching job in rural Saskatchewan to NYC where she taught for 13 years in public high schools and then back to Saskatchewan, at first working with student teachers in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan and now teaching Grade 6 for the last 8 years in Saskatoon.
She has been participating in SCIC educational programs since 2020.
Melanie’s teaching approach is rooted in social justice to allow students to have a voice and become active citizens. Her emphasis on how the land shapes us made a natural connection to incorporate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a throughline in her interdisciplinary teaching. She works with her students to look at how local action contributes to global change.
Since literature is the natural bridge between understanding and empathy, Melanie was drawn immediately to the educator Reading Circles which SCIC has been offering for years. Through these Circles, Melanie became further inspired to motivate students to make the world a better place - locally, nationally, and internationally. It provided her with the knowledge, resources, and support to move forward with her goals. Melanie extended this passion by facilitating one of the Reading Circles in the past year with a novel she studies with her Grade 6 class.
Although Melanie strove to provide students with opportunities to be critical thinkers, to inquire, and to be concerned about and bring awareness to injustices, she often found obstacles in finding resources to help support this goal. The SCIC Global Citizenship Modules were the piece of the missing puzzle for her. They enabled her to cover important topics that were engaging, informative, and practical to use in the classroom.
Since Melanie’s time with SCIC, her classroom has transformed - the students learn, inquire, plan, and activate change. Her class became so engrossed with the homelessness crisis that they hosted the Saskatoon City Mayor to discuss the issues with their questions and solutions. This impact resulted in the students receiving the Public Schools of Saskatchewan Student Citizenship Award. The Social Justice Club Melanie created this year as requested by students has continued these movements. Actions have included meeting with City Councillors about the effects of Generative AI, making meals and carrying out blanket drives for the unhoused, starting a school wide green compost program, and presenting at Saskatoon’s Student Action for Sustainable Future showcase with her class. They are currently working on educating other classrooms about these issues. As one of her students likes to quote her by saying: “Ms. Wilkinson says we educate, not dictate. By doing this, others will take action to make the world better.”
Melanie continues to be a lifelong learner and her time with SCIC has provided this opportunity so her students gain the confidence to lead change.
Lloyd Laliberte
Lloyd has spent 21 years working in education in Saskatchewan and is currently a faculty member with the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. He currently teaches several curriculum classes, including a 3rd-year Social Studies methods class.
He is deeply committed to Social Studies, Canadian history, Citizenship Education, and Indigenous issues. In 2012, he completed his Master’s degree with a focus on Social and Ecological Justice, specializing in Aboriginal education. Throughout his career, Lloyd has contributed to several key initiatives, including the Saskatchewan Ministry’s Citizenship Education working committee, the Aboriginal Resource Social Studies working committee, and work with Pearson as a Social Studies design reviewer.
For the past few years, Lloyd has been engaged with SCIC’s Global Citizenship Education (GCE) resources and training, ensuring that his third-year education students are introduced to both the organization and the wide range of educational resources it offers. He encourages future teachers to think globally and to recognize the deep interconnectedness of our world.
Lloyd often reminds his students that Canada’s demographics are continually evolving.
He emphasizes that educational leaders and institutions must take an active role in understanding global politics, social justice issues, and sustainability, preparing themselves to teach and lead in an increasingly interconnected world.
Hannah Tait
Hannah first became involved with the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC) through on campus events at the Univeristy of Regina as early as 2020. She has attended multiple years of Generating Momentum, the SCIC Awards Gala and additional programming over the past five years. After the Youth Advisory Council was re-established following the COVID-19 pandemic, she joined as a member.
SCIC has provided Hannah with meaningful personal and professional development opportunities as a young changemaker in Saskatchewan. Through initiatives such as Generating Momentum, guest speaker events, the Awards Gala, and the Youth Advisory Council, she has developed a strong network of likeminded individuals who contribute to a supportive and empowering community. The community fostered through SCIC has helped make complex global challenges feel more understandable and actionable.
Her involvement with SCIC over the past several years has been highly influential in her growth as an activist, entrepreneur, community volunteer, youth leader, and public sector professional. Through these experiences, Hannah developed a stronger understanding of how to identify and define global challenges and solutions, which continues to shape her approach to community impact and leadership. SCIC staff, facilitators, and guest speakers have also demonstrated equitable and community-centred approaches to local and global impact through their leadership and mentorship.
Hannah is a multi-faceted community leader with experience in social enterprises, community development, entrepreneurship, strategy, governance, market research, and youth advocacy. Her advocacy work has taken place in Australia, Peru, Thailand, and across Canada, with a focus on digital ethics, gender equity, education, agriculture, and innovation. She is particularly passionate about responsible technology and innovation to address food insecurity, which informs her thesis research in the Master of Public Policy program through the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan.
Hannah currently serves as Provincial Chair of the Saskatchewan Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs board, where she works to empower and engage young professionals across the province. She continues to apply the knowledge, leadership skills, and global perspectives gained through SCIC to take action, lead responsibly, and create meaningful impact within her community and beyond.
Carter Jessop
The 2025 Generating Momentum Youth Summit was Carter Jessop’s first experience engaging with the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC), and it became a major turning point in how he understood leadership, advocacy, and community impact. The Summit brought together youth from across Saskatchewan who were passionate about creating meaningful change in their communities, and it challenged Carter to think more deeply about how local action connects to broader global issues.
Before attending, much of Carter’s work was focused on volunteering, student leadership, and community organizing within Regina. While he cared deeply about justice, multiculturalism, and inclusion, he often viewed leadership as something that required complete confidence and experience before stepping fully into it. Being surrounded by passionate young leaders and facilitators at Generating Momentum shifted that perspective. The experience showed him that leadership is not about having all the answers — it is about being willing to learn, listen, and take action with purpose.
What impacted Carter most was seeing how youth voices were genuinely valued. Through workshops and dialogue, he gained greater confidence in his ability to contribute meaningfully to conversations surrounding social justice, multiculturalism, and sustainable change. The summit also helped reinforce the importance of multicultural leadership and inclusive community-building, values that would continue shaping his work in the years that followed.
Since attending the summit, Carter has continued expanding his leadership through community initiatives, multicultural advocacy, youth mentorship, and public speaking opportunities. In 2025, his contributions to multiculturalism and youth leadership were recognized through the Multicultural Youth Leadership Award from the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan. He has also continued contributing to youth engagement and advocacy through his involvement on youth advisory initiatives and councils focused on empowering young people and strengthening community voices.
Today, Carter moves forward with greater confidence in his leadership and a strengthened commitment to building inclusive spaces where young people feel empowered to use their voices and create positive change in their communities.