From dance to daycare to diversity, 3 Women of Distinction nominees make a difference for youth

A dancer who founded Manitoba's first professional Indigenous dance studio, a high school principal who's helped moms stay in school, and a speaker who helps promote multiculturalism and diversity for young people are among the Manitoba women doing remarkable things in their communities who will be recognized for their work Wednesday night.

A total of 42 Manitoba women and girls are nominated in eight categories as part of the YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction Awards, which will be handed out in Winnipeg on Wednesday evening.

In the lead-up to the awards ceremony, CBC's Information Radio has profiled a few of the nominees, who are being recognized for their contributions to arts and culture, business, education, the community and more.

Buffy Handel

"I'm just really looking forward to being around women that are kind of, I guess, the elite, and it's a privilege to just be around that," said Buffy Handel, who is among four nominees in the arts, culture and heritage category.

Handel is the founder of the Aboriginal School of Dance, the first professional Indigenous dance studio in Manitoba. Established in 2008, the school offers a variety of traditional dance and cultural classes and workshops.

"As far as receiving the award, I just immediately think … if I do receive one, that I'm going to be sharing it with every single one of the [people] I'm mentoring at the dance studio," she said.

The school currently has 35 students in-house, but Handel said staff also travel to Thompson, Nelson House, Fisher River and other communities across the province.

Students contribute to the Indigenous community in part by supporting local organizations. Handel said as an example, students are donating the proceeds from an upcoming production to the First Nations Pavilion at Folklorama and to Ikwe, a local ridesharing group through which women offer rides to other women.

"When we put on these productions we … select different good things that are happening in the community to make a financial contribution to; instead of just kind of handing money over, really just watching the community and letting the kids kind of decide, 'You know what? We want to contribute to this. We think this is a great idea.'"

In addition to running the studio, Handel provides guidance and housing to 21 at-risk youth and young adults as part of a mentorship program she runs out of her own home.

Arlene Skull

Helping young moms stay in school is one of the reasons Arlene Skull has been nominated in the community champion award category.

Skull, the principal at Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg, established a care centre for infants and toddlers so their mothers can stay in school.

The centre, which teaches parenting skills in addition to providing child care, has enabled more than 200 mothers to graduate, Skull said.

"Graduation rates went up substantially and the girls, well, they just have the confidence to continue because they have the support," Skull said.

"There [are educational assistants] in the program that look after the children while they're in class, and then they spend their lunch hours and their spare time with their young people. And because they learn the parenting skills, they're able to also just go off and do what we all want all young girls to do, [which] is to learn and to graduate."

Skull is also being recognized for co-authoring and implementing the first native studies curriculum in a Winnipeg high school — one that has continued to run for the past 25 years.

She said the idea for the curriculum came about as a result of seeing students from northern Manitoba communities come to Winnipeg for high school.

"They missed their families. They came to the city, it's so far away, the school was as big as some of their reservations, and they're all by themselves, and they're 15," she said.

"So what we really did … was create a place where they felt welcoming and they had other children, young people in the same boat, and they made friends and they were able to stay and they were able to continue on to graduation."

Patricia Kumbakisaka

Also working with youth is Patricia Kumbakisaka, who is promoting Canadian multiculturalism and diversity as a regional co-ordinator with the United Nations Association in Canada. She is one of five nominees for the Young Woman of Distinction Award, which recognizes women between the ages of 18 and 29.

Kumbakisaka, who was born in Romania but immigrated to Canada from Greece with her parents at the age of 10, speaks with middle and elementary school students as part of the Canada's Diversity Advantage program.

"The whole point of the project is to reach out to young people and explain to them the importance of immigration and the importance of the diversity that we have here in Canada, just so they understand that — just like our prime minister said — that diversity is Canada's strength and it's what makes our country so unique and so special," she said.

Kumbakisaka was also selected to represent Canada for a diplomatic mission at the United Nations Youth Association of Romania. As well, through her work with the association, she organized a Shared Heritage Festival at the University of Manitoba in March.

"It was kind of like a mini-Folklorama in one day, so we had people performing, singing, dancing," she said. "It was a lot of fun, but it was just to show that we're many different cultures but we're all one together."

Kumbakisaka said she hopes her work will inspire other young immigrants to get involved in their community as well.

• On mobile? Check out the full list of nominees here.