Young Voices Can! is an Ottawa-based charitable organization that works to foster open dialogue and mutual understanding among young people of different ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. While we welcome the participation of people from all religious and cultural backgrounds, our primary focus is to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, and to improve understanding of, and respect for, Muslims and Jews, and their religious and cultural values, by all youth and their families, here in the National Capital Region and elsewhere.

The goal of Young Voices Can! (YVC!) is to build bridges between our local religious and cultural communities by fostering greater understanding and tolerance between  youth from those communities. That goal is premised on the belief that it is often easier to reduce longstanding religious, racial and cultural prejudices while people are still young, open-minded and receptive to new ideas and values.

The programs organized by YVC! bring together young people for dialogue, learning, team-building, self-awareness – and fun! Those exciting programs enable youth to gain a better appreciation of each other’s religious and cultural backgrounds, with a view to making them better future citizens and community leaders.