YOUTH PANEL
In Partnership with "Skipping Stone"
Sunday, March 30th, 2025
11:15 PM - 12:45 PM PT (UTC-7)
Conference Room A/B, Sngequ House (Sŋéqə ʔéʔləŋ) & Online
University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Lək̓ʷəŋən territory
All conference registrations include access to the Youth Panel. As space allows, the event is also open to the public by donation at the door.
Akira
Akira Hesslein was a youth panelist on the first iteration of this Skipping Stone panel in 2021, and is now a first-year student in Gender Studies at the University of Victoria.
During her time in Alberta, she was active in organizing activism in response to the current anti-trans legislation, and benefited greatly from the support and guidance of Skipping Stone.
In her free time, she works to communicate the experiences of trans youth through music, and is very excited to be moderating this panel of incredible people.
Devon
Devon Afquir is a Métis and Berber Moroccan who is 17 years old, he uses he/they/any pronouns and currently identifies as genderfluid but given genders an ever evolving journey that may change. Devon is passionate about art, music, writing, culture and advocacy. They live with 3 birds and a crazy… cute dog named Otis who he treasures. Devon prides themself on advocating for others especially the queer community and is growing to learn more about his cultures as time goes on.
Chris
Chris Wang (he/him) is a first-year undergraduate student studying statistics and public health at the University of Toronto. He is a first-generation transmasculine immigrant, a proud member of Richmond, BC's Chinese population, and, despite being eighteen, still does not have his N license. When he is not working on a calculus problem set, Chris enjoys playing competitive trivia, reading fanfiction, and researching sex ed. He would also like to use this space to thank the UofT's Sexual Education Centre, where he volunteers on a weekly basis, and the Women and Gender Studies department, in particular Dr. Angie Fazekas and Juls Martins, for their continued mentorship.
Ayanna
Ayanna is 15 and uses he/him pronouns. He’s from Prince George British Columbia with family background from Kenya (which is in East Africa) and Western Europe. He is a grade 10 student who enjoys trying out different clubs and activities and learning more about the world through documentaries and opportunities. He’s very passionate about musical theatre and many other hobbies such as badminton and guitar. Ayanna wishes to share the joy he has of learning about life experiences while sharing the good and bad of his own trans experiences.
Evey
Evey Sweeny is a 14-year-old trans girl living her best life in rural Nova Scotia with her dogs, cat, and her mom. Evey channels her boundless energy into a broad range of hobbies and activities including foraging for plants and mushrooms, creating new worlds through her art practice, performing in drag as “Sassafras Smalls”, and being a ‘sporty spice’ playing on her school’s soccer, volleyball, and cross-country teams. Evey has been a passionate advocate for trans and gender non-conforming youth since she was six when she started hosting pop-up workshops for families about gender. She presented at a Pride at Work national webinar on supporting parents of 2SLGBTQ+ kids, hosted a workshop on supporting gender-diverse students for the South-West Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, and spoke at a WE Day event in front of 11,000 people. She successfully advocated for books with queer representation for her school’s library, and the creation of a Pride mural at her school, a collaboration of queer artists and the GSA. Evey is featured in the documentary series, Translations, which explores the lives of a diverse group of trans individuals and their advocates at a remote retreat in Nova Scotia.