Autumn Peltier, is the only young Canadian nominated this year for the International Children’s Peace Prize.
The 13-year old is Anishinaabe from the Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve, on Manitoulin Island in the Great Lakes, between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
Peltier has been recognized as a water protector, inspired by her aunt, Josephine Mandamin, a water walker.
As a respected elder, Mandamin began walking and praying around Lake Superior in 2003 to raise awareness of the water issues in the Great Lakes region.
Mandamin has continued on many water walks since, inspiring and being accompanied by many other members of the indigenous community and the greater communities.
Autumn Peltier is following in her footsteps, literally.
The International Children’s Peace Prize is an annual award to recognise an inspirational child, who has has made a difference in improving the lives of children worldwide.
The prize, which gives children an opportunity to express and promote their ideas, began during the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in 2005.
This year’s award ceremony will take place on December 4th, in the Netherlands, but it would not be Peltier’s first international experience.
In 2015, following a cultural camp in her own community that explored the traditional teachings of the land and team building experiences, Autumn Peltier was invited to attend the Children’s Climate Conference in Sweden.
That occasion led to 64 children from 32 countries coming together to issue a communique to the leaders of the world with their demands, that was eventually delivered at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Autumn’s mother, Stephanie Peltier told CBC she is amazed at her daughter’s path.
“She’s got all of these messages that just come out of her… she’s a pretty serious little girl,” Peltier said.
“A lot of people don’t know how to take her, but when you get to know her she’s pretty funny and crazy. She does take her time to be a little kid, but when she gets that look in her eye I can tell something’s brewing.”
“I came in the door there two or three weeks ago and she said, ‘Mom, you’re not going to believe this. I’ve been sitting here for four hours studying [Assembly of First Nations National Chief] Perry Bellegarde’s speeches,” said Peltier.
Autumn Peltier is one to watch.
With files from CBC and Rhiannon Johnson
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