BYTE is a “by youth, for youth” organization that focuses on empowering and promoting youth throughout the Yukon and Canada’s north. Our community outreach team travels to communities throughout the Yukon and to some areas of Northern BC and NWT to deliver innovative and relevant workshops to northern youth. We also host events and conferences that foster creativity and culture. We invest in protective factors for wellness to ensure young people feel seen, heard and valued. We do this by creating spaces where youth can discover and express their unique identities, by fostering spaces where youth can build relationships of support with adults and peers, by teaching and modelling skills for life and leadership, by centering and sharing youth perspectives in an adult-centric world.
Our name, BYTE, used to stand for “Bringing Youth Towards Equality”. However, in 2015, we re-branded and now our name is just BYTE – Empowering Youth Society. We made this decision because our mission is to meet youth where they are at and support them to get where they want to go, rather than to bring them somewhere
Our Mission: We create spaces for Northern youth to create connections, find wellness, and lead their communities. We do this by;
- Fostering spaces and relationships where youth feel seen, validated and connected
- Offering pathways for employment and leadership
- Amplifying youth voices for change
Our Vision: We want to create a future where in the North, young people are validated and celebrated for their unique voices and expression in their personal and professional lives. They have a sense of belonging, identity and acceptance within their community and strong relationships with peers and adults; and they have the tools they need to follow their passions and trailblaze change in their communities.
Our Values:
- Youth at the Centre: Youth perspective and voices are the centre of all we do.
- Trailblazing: We are making a better world by challenging systems and creating new ones
- Non-Judgement and Respect: We meet people where they are at and we see and value the unique skills and strengths of Northern youth.
- Authenticity: Showing up genuinely as yourself is the way to make change
- Learning and Adaptation: We are always learning and unlearning, we can always do better.
- Accountability and Transparency: We do what we say and we we will do, we own our mistakes.
- Healthy relationships: Our relationships – with ourselves, with others and our community – are at the core of life
- Environment: Our environment is our home and we must care for it and support it
- Reconciliation : We believe in the ongoing recognition of Indigenous rights and lands, knowledge, perspectives and experience
- Social Justice: We believe in a fair and equitable division of resources, opportunities and privileges in society
BYTE – Empowering Youth respectfully acknowledges that we are situated on the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch‘än Council and we will acknowledge the Traditional Territories when we travel to northern regions.
History
In 1998, Bringing Youth Towards Equality (BYTE) was founded by the late Nicole Edwards out of Yukon’s need to have a organization with youth ideas, plans, and initiatives at its core. Supported by the PAYY Coalition (Positive Action with Yukon Youth), a group of energetic youth decided to put together the first Yukon Youth Conference. It was a major success. The group reassembled later in the spring to form BYTE to plan for more conferences and to publish copies of Toxic Blend, a ‘zine made by and for Yukon youth. Since day one, BYTE has been an organization that is driven by and for youth in the North and one that celebrates their talents!
After several years of organizing successful Yukon Youth Conferences, we started to turn our attention to youth who weren’t making it to Whitehorse for the conference and in 2007 Community Tours were born! Community tours still make up the most important part of what we do today: bringing relevant programming to youth in their communities and truly meeting them where they are at! To do this, we regularly poll Yukon youth on what issues they face, want to learn more about and take action on. Then we create programming surrounding these outcomes. We regularly survey Yukon youth on what issues they face, want to learn more about and take action on. Then we create programming surrounding these outcomes.
In recent years, the BYTE staff team has created experiential workshops ranging from safer partying to healthy relationships, we have recruited and trained an on-call youth facilitation team to deliver the workshops in schools and rural youth centres in the Yukon, Northern B.C. and the Northwest Territories and we are always looking to add new, exciting workshops to our roster!
In 2015, we made another big change and we changed our name from Bringing Youth Towards Equality (BYTE) to BYTE – Empowering Youth Society! The change not only reflects some of the new things the organization was doing but also honours that the young people who make up this organization and the young people we work with don’t need to be brought anywhere – we are already where we need to be! At BYTE – Empowering Youth Society we aim to give youth space for their ideas, passions and to practice the skills and strengths they already have.
Lastly, as we come up on celebrating 25 years of BYTE, we want to recognize all the energetic, enthusiastic youth who have shaped and directed the organization. We have been lucky to have so many talented and passionate individuals work here. Each staff offers a new set of skills which allows us to reach out and connect with a larger number of Yukon youth. Each staff has also brought new and exciting projects and workshops to our organization such as MOVE!, Leaders in Training and This is Our Arctic. We can’t to see what the next 25 years bring!
Board of Directors
BYTE is privileged to have a diverse and experienced Board of Directors, who provide valuable guidance to the organization. Our Board includes experienced youth-workers, professionals, and young people from the Whitehorse community.
Our 2024-25 Board Members are:
Abbey Gartner – Co-Chair
Taylor Roch – Co-Chair
Jenna Wyers – Treasurer
Amanda Cogan – Secretary
Doronn Fox – Director
Robin Mennell – Director
Transparency
A core value of BYTE is transparency. Therefore, we have set up this page to provide access to important information about the organization.
BYTE is a Registered Charity and therefore, detailed information about BYTE’s finances are available via the Canadian Revenue Agencies website.
Financial Reviews
Each year, BDO Canada performs a detailed review of BYTE’s financial reporting. You can view these reports here:
By-Laws
BYTE has recently produced a new set of by-laws, and these have been finalized through a vote at the General Meeting on June 29, 2022. You can take a look at those by-laws here.
BYTE’s Year End Reports
Each year, BYTE reflects on our journey through a Year-End Report. It is snapshot of the events, successes, and lessons we’ve shared with youth across the North. These reports help us stay accountable, celebrate community impact, and keep growing together through creativity, connection, and care.