“We can never say enough about all the good things that Inclusive Leadership has brought to our family, to our community and the world!!” (Genevieve Singleton, Vancouver Island, BC)

“Thanks to the ILC for contributing your talent and experience to Leadership Vancouver Island’s 2016 Retreat. The team-building and community-building exercises were a hit with this year’s cohort; always a bonus to learn something while you’re having fun!” (Carrie White, Leadership VI Co-ordinator).  Click here to learn about Leadership Vancouver Island

The energy and feeling from this past weekend, has imprinted on my heart…The activities that were chosen, the way in which groups were formed, how we were encouraged to communicate with each other really created a space for meaningful relationships and connections to be shared… I can say that I connected with every generation there and built lasting relationships that I look forward to nurturing! So encouraging.” (Katie Sayers, Leadership Vancouver Island)

Click here to read the ILC Gathering 2016 Feedback Report

One of my take-aways from the weekend is just how amazing each of us are when we have the opportunity to show up in a space of respect, openness and support and share our stories. The gifts of our lives can really shine through. So much healing can occur in such an environment – as I say, I wish it for everyone. (Joy Emmanuel, Turning Times Research and Consulting)

Click here to read the Feedback from Experiential Education in Facilitating and Mentoring Inclusive Leadership Feb 2016

At the risk of sounding like I’m making a sales pitch, I attended the ILC training in April 2015 and it was awe-inspiring. Quite literally.(Donna Sassaman, Virtues Project Facilitator)

Truly inspiring. (Nola Landucci, Retired Human Rights Advocate)

Inclusive Leadership is always a really spiritual event for me with lots of really open minded people who want to see the world get better and help make it get better. (Henry Bekter, Volunteer)

Inclusive Leadership is awesome. Each time I come I think it is the best ever. I always wish I could come again and I always wish it was longer. (Isaac Ayers-Baker, High School Student)

Inclusive Leadership is a great reminder of how beautiful people are. We can collaborate and work together and live in a way that we can keep giving back and taking from and with our Earth. This is inspirational. I hope to go forward in my life living and being aware of all these great things all the time. (Nikolai Lamspon, High School Student)

I love it here. Everyone here is so kind. I really appreciate it. I hope I can come as many times as possible. I have been to Buddhist Temples that show monks meditating. To me Inclusive Leadership is similar to meditation for the mind, in that it is meditation for the heart. (Shuwei Wang, International Student from China studying in Canada).

Thank you so much for the wonderful Inclusive Leadership Training. It continues to resonate through my days in mysterious, powerful ways. Usually with these intense retreats, it kinda stays in one’s head, and not so much in one’s deeds and mindset, but not with this: I truly see every day and every gathering I am at with different eyes. I was able to carry this into my teaching as well. (Annette Lampson, Music Teacher, Glenora Farm and Island Oak High School)

I’ve been teaching for sixteen years and yet I learned so much in just a few days. The training in facilitating and mentoring Inclusive Leadership gave me the skills and confidence I need to facilitate participatory workshops. (Christine Fagan, ESL Teacher, Duncan, BC)

Inclusive Leadership is a crash course on community and possibility that I love being part of. I’ve been trying to work Inclusive Leadership skills into everything I do with Youth 4 Diversity and trying on ways of facilitating modeled by many Inclusive Leaders. Every time I do that, I see a glimpse of possibility – even if it’s brief – of the compassionate world we are trying to create. (Moss Dance, Youth Worker, Campbell River, BC)

Inclusive Leadership has helped our students and staff develop an inclusive culture based on respect for diversity…Inclusive Leadership is a applicable to our staff as it is to our students. (Larry Mattin, Principal, Adult and Alternate Education, Cowichan Valley, BC).

Inclusive Leadership is a new paradigm built on trust, value, desire for change, vision and confidence to make that change. (Charlyne Smilinski, Instructor, College of New Caledonia Vanderhoof, BC)

From this experience I know that changing the world can be done. (Anthony Walters, High School student, Lake Cowichan, BC)

It is because of our differences that we will be able to reach out and change people’s lives. It is our differences that have led to stronger sense of community. ..The lessons learned from Inclusive Leadership continue to light my way to a better world! (Martha Mutiso, Canada World Youth Volunteer, Kenya)

I appreciate all these new tools I learned…such an amazing opportunity. (Tagen Hubrick-Archie, High School student, Duncan, BC)

I have never before been in an ambiance where people I met at meals or in these exercises opened up so disarmingly about their experiences of racism or their time on the streets or whatever. I was touched and also I was moved along. I am very grateful for this experience, and am not at the end of what I learned. (Margaret Slavin, Quakers, Ontario)

World peace in action (Lewis Beck, Operation Generation, Nanaimo, BC)

What happens at Inclusive Leadership as 50 or 60 strangers of all ages, all abilities, various ethnicities, and diverse backgrounds come together is a miracle. As participants gather, the ground rules of inclusion are set, people are invited to let their guards down, and there is time, and energy devoted to sharing and really listening to one-anothers stories. (Tara Jordan, Youth 4 Diversity Co-ordinator, Campbell River, BC)

Inclusive Leadership is a valuable tool for any community from youth to elders, abled and disabled, and for people from all cultures and backgrounds. (Russell Mackenzie, Canada World Youth Project Supervisor, Port Alberni, BC)

My life is changed and full of hope after this. (Edison Wang, High School Student, Campbell River, BC)

I wish this training could be made mandatory for everyone in the world! (Danielle Fehr, Big Brothers/Big Sisters Co-ordinator, Langley, BC)

Inclusive Leadership is a strength-based focus where there is appreciative inquiry into group or community strengths. Inclusive Leadership focuses on what gives life to community-building, communicating needs and solutions. It gives a community a positive, solution-focused way of problem-solving. It brings people of all ages to the table, circle or forum. It celebrates what works, and gives room for dreaming, designing and celebrating. (Wedlidi Speck, Director of Aboriginal Service Change, Government of BC)

The peaceful path presented in Inclusive Leadership invites people to explore our community in a way that creates and appreciates our diverse gifts. More of this in each community will shift the fear and judgment so engrained in our society. (Stephen Levesque, Horticultural Therapist and Farmer, Gabriola Island, BC)

Thank you to everyone took time to create a safe, inclusive environment; for believing that youth can be leaders and for working hard to make sure that everyone was equal. Inclusive Leadership taught me so much and I am forever grateful. (Thomas England, University Student, Campbell River, BC).

Inclusive Leadership has been incredibly instrumental in our school’s connectedness and our students’ and staff commitments to social and environmental responsibility.” (Gillian Berry, School Counsellor, Duncan, BC)

Inclusive Leadership perfectly brings alive the abstract notion of interconnectedness, which entails that in the midst of our magnificent diversity we human beings form one human family which is embedded into a bigger framework, the sacred community of life. (Michael Slaby, Earth Charter Youth Coordinator, Germany)

We are all one! Such a positive and powerful experience! (Amy and Tafadzwa Matamba, Mbira Spirit, Mill Bay, BC)

A million thanks. Profound learning and change. (Harriet Greenwood, Environmental Activist, Vancouver, BC)

The short time we spent with the Inclusive Leadership community had a really restoring and calming effect on us. … well facilitated and relevant.  I loved the variety as a great introduction to some core Inclusive Leadership concepts. I was just so in awe of it all.  Great people, great topics, heartfelt conversations.  I want to come back next year for sure. (Janice Milnerwood, Graphics Designer, Vancouver, BC)