My name is Kleo Skavinski and my pronouns are they/them/theirs. I am Dehcho Dene descended matrilineally from the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation, Treaty 11. I attended my first FOXY workshop in my hometown of Hay River, NT, in the year 2016. Later that same year, I had the privilege of attending a summer retreat at the Blachford Lake Lodge. At this retreat, I made life-long friends, exercised my voice and kick-started my journey of confidence and self-determination. I became a Peer Facilitator shortly later and started traveling with FOXY in the fall of 2016 to co-facilitate in-school workshops. The joy of a successful workshop motivated me to continue traveling in the winter months throughout my final years of secondary education, ending in 2019.
The spaces facilitated by FOXY welcomed my creativity with enthusiasm and supported my curiosities and critiques of heteronormative, colonial power structures. I am now entering my fourth year as an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Arts for Sociology with a minor in Critical Indigenous Studies; special interests in Critical Sexuality Studies, Creative Writing. and Gender, Race, and Social Justice. I often cite my lived experiences as an Indigenous anti-colonial scholar, including my time with FOXY working alongside particularly awe-inspiring folks. To this day, I carry forward incredible pride for my investments into FOXY and its legacies. I continue to renew my passion for working in, around, and for Northern communities.
