Kids' Power

It's 1947, and while the second world war is over and ration tickets are gone, food prices are going up. Then it is announced that the price of chocolate is going up too! Maggie and her friends leap into action and plan a strike against the price hike.

Yeny and her family have escaped from the violence in their mountain village in Colombia to live in the city. But danger remains all around her - from groups of armed men who have kidnapped her uncle to a scary bully at school. Yeny feels powerless until her new friends decide to organize a peace carnival. Before long, the peace movement has attracted young people from across the country, and they decide to hold a national vote for peace. Inspired by the Colombian Children's Movement for Peace — on October 25, 1996, millions of kids throughout Colombia held a vote that resulted in one full day with no bombs, shootings, or kidnappings. The group has been nominated every year since for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The true story of Shannen Koostachin and the people of Attawapiskat First Nation, a native Cree community in Northern Ontario, who have been fighting for a new school since 1979 when a fuel spill contaminated their original school building. Shannen's fight took her all the way to Parliament Hill and was taken up by children around the world. Shannen's dream continues today with the work of the Shannen's Dream organization and those everywhere who are fighting for the rights of Aboriginal children.

Severn Suzuki's speech at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio caught the attention of the world. As the daughter of environmentalist David Suzuki, Severn's concern for the environment was fueled by a trip to the Amazon rainforest at age nine. Back home in Vancouver, she and her friends started ECO, the Environmental Children's Organization, combining their efforts to raise enough money to travel to Rio. They couldn't have imagined the effect they would have on the adults gathered there. More than twenty years later, Severn's speech continues to receive thousands of hits on YouTube. Severn's story is about the power that children have to create change when they work together, and how their voices can stand out above the politics and cynicism of adults.

Lacey Little Bird loves spending time with Kahasi, an elder on her reserve who is like a grandmother to her. From her Lacey is learning about their people, the Siksika Blackfoot tribe of Alberta, including the art of beadwork. Lacey hears about a project to help grandmothers in Africa who are raising their grandchildren because their parents have died from AIDS. Even though Africa is far, far away, Lacey wants to help and emails the grandmothers with a plan to raise money by selling beaded purses. What difference can a young Blackfoot girl from North America make in the lives of grandmothers in Africa? A lot, as Lacey discovers. Her decision to help will bring about amazing changes in her life and her community. Based on true events.