The Vernon Prestige Hotel Conference Centre was at capacity for the second annual What Happens Upstream Youth Conference (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

OKIB Youth Leadership Council Event

What Happens Upstream conference gives local youth advocacy platform

Oct 20, 2025 | 4:07 PM

Local youth had a chance to showcase their leadership potential at the second annual What Happens Upstream Youth Conference in Vernon on Monday.

Hosted by the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) Youth Leadership Council, the event brought together youth from throughout the area and provided them with a platform where they could connect with each other, have knowledge passed down to them, bring up their concerns or issues the community is facing and be empowered.

“Our goal is to connect youth and pass on knowledge that we’re all learning together since we’re all just fresh salmon and we want to pass on our knowledge to the next salmon that are going to come upstream,” Akasha Eustache, a member of the OKIB Youth Leadership Council, told Vernon Matters.

“[The knowledge we look to pass on are] things that are practical, like life skills, and things for your own health, like mental health and spiritual health and physical health. We care about that a lot.”

The event also allowed the participating youth, which filled the Vernon Prestige Hotel Conference Centre, to learn about internet and social media safety, so they don’t end up in compromising situations.

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Emmarie-Rae Louis, another member of the OKIB Youth Leadership Council, said they were also able to hold discussions about having safe and diverse spaces available in the community so “they can be open about what they need, what they want, and so that they have a voice and can continue to help others.”

Reed Wilson, also involved in the OKIB Youth Leadership Council, said the conference showed “the growth and development of our youth” as they aimed to be the next leaders in their community. Eustache backed up that point by saying the youth may not always feel like they have a voice, but their opinions do matter and that fact was showcased as part of the conference.

The OKIB Youth Leadership Council put on the conference in partnership the OKIB Public Safety Office, whose representatives said the event was a testament to the leadership qualities of today’s youth as they work on creating a vision for the future and finding ways to meet those goals.

“Our purpose is really to create a movement to share across the Okanagan – the changes we want to see, specifically the changes that youth want to see – around safety, belonging, identity, leadership,” Verlynn Mariano, Projects Coordinator for the OKIB Public Safety Office, told Vernon Matters.

“We understand that they’re the future and that they need to equip themselves with tools to be able to be good leaders, and they’ve done that and set such a great example, especially through this conference.”

The conference also gave the youth the opportunity to bring up their concerns, be it public safety, drugs in the community, or mental health challenges. Local service providers had booths set up at the conference so the attendees could meet representatives from those agencies and learn about the services available in the area.

Youth visitng booths set up by local organizations at the What Happens Upstream Youth Conference (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

The conference feature keynote speakers Paul Sawuan, also known as Kasp, a motivational facilitator and hip-hop artist, and Vanessa Mitchell, an OKIB member and School District 22 trustee. Both aimed to empower the youth at the event.

“Letting them know that they have greatness in them and they’re loved and to love themselves,” Kasp said.

“My main message was we all have story, we all have voice, we all have dream, and we all have our responsibility,” Mitchell added.

They acknowledged that the conference showcased that the youth do have a voice and can speak up and said they were inspired by the leadership qualities the attendees displayed.

The OKIB Youth Leadership Council said the event was at full capacity, and they hope to see it continue to grow in the coming years.