Joy is Resistance: Highlights from the 2025 Oxfam Youth Summit

At Oxfam Canada, we know that real change happens when people come together and use their collective power to lift up their communities. That’s why as part of the Stand Up for SRHR project, we convene youth activists for a weekend of skill and knowledge building on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). On March 1-2, we welcomed 23 youth from 14 cities and towns all across Canada to Ottawa for the 2025 Youth Summit! 

Participants gather at the 2025 Oxfam Youth Summit. Photo: Aanu Ogundipe/Oxfam

The Youth Summit isn’t just about skill-building - it’s about equipping young 2SLGBTQIA+ leaders with the tools to push back against the rising tide of far-right and anti-gender movements. Now, more than ever, CSE and SRHR must be defended, championed, and woven into the fabric of community spaces. Through an intersectional feminist and anti-racist lens, participants learned how to educate, advocate, and engage with decision-makers. But beyond the workshops and strategy sessions, the Summit is about something deeper: forging a network of passionate change-makers and leaders who uplift each other, challenge the status quo, and, most importantly, find joy and solidarity in the fight for a more just world. 

Youth from all across Canada gather for the Oxfam Youth Summit. Photo: Aanu Ogundipe/Oxfam

During the Youth Summit, participants engaged in conversations and workshops focused on several important topics including abortion advocacy, countering the rise of the far-right, decolonizing SRHR, pleasure mapping and CSE, screen printing and art for activism, and strategies for engaging different types of change makers including politicians. We learned about different strategies to engage with power to get politicians to make the change we want to see, and differentiating advocacy from mobilizing and organizing – all of which are important pillars of activism. The threat of polarization was also discussed, and how countering the deliberate attempt to make people feel like they don’t have shared interests is key to ensuring the success of our movements.  

With our art workshop, the importance of crisp visuals to highlight key messaging was made clear – and we screen printed tote bags, t-shirts, and banners too! Another key discussion focused on how to counter shame in sexual health by disseminating knowledge in culturally relevant and sensitive ways. We were reminded that representation is important to break down the shame and barriers around inclusive and transformative conversations on SRHR and CSE.