About Us

The PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada (PEI ANC) was incorporated in 1993 as a non-profit charitable organization. Our mandate is to provide short-term settlement services, and long-term inclusion and community integration programs for new immigrants in the province of Prince Edward Island. The Association speaks publicly on immigrant issues and advocates on behalf of newcomers. Even though the PEIANC works solely with immigrants to Canada, the idea for this project was to involve any youth interested in participating. The group is currently formed by 8 youth grades and 2 PEIANC leaders.

After deeply considering numerous issues, the group decided to address the topic of Teenage Stereotypes and how this affects the community's perception of teens and also teens’ perception of themselves. Negative stereotypes not only affect how adults see teenagers, they may influence how teenagers see themselves and also, the way in which teens regard one another. The feeling that their community doesn’t respect or understand them often encourages a negative sense of self-worth. Barriers based on stereotypes are encountered in different aspects of teens' lives. They can negatively impact the teen-parent relationship, can become excuses for poor decision-making, increase the sense of isolation or misunderstanding as they face distrust- and even dislike- from the members of their community, and may create misconceptions or miscommunications that incorrectly skew policy decisions or budget allocations. Furthermore, the labels placed on teens may have a lasting impact as they are carried into adulthood, affecting their decisions about higher education, careers or relationships.

We maybe young but...

Through this project, we want to address youth stereotypes, how this affects the community's perception of youth and also youth's perception of themselves.

Negative stereotypes not only affect how adults see teenagers, they influence how teenagers see themselves and also, the way in which teens regard one another. The feeling that their community doesn’t respect or understand them encourages a negative sense of self-worth.

Barriers are encountered in different aspects of teens' lives, it can negatively impact the teen-parent relationship, it can become an excuse for poor decision-making, it increases the sense of isolation or misunderstanding as they face distrust- and even dislike- from the members of their community, it may create misconceptions or miscommunications that incorrectly skew policy decisions or budget allocations. Furthermore, these labels may have a lasting impact as they are carried into adulthood, impacting their decisions about higher education, careers or relationships.

We are planning to create an action/video to bring awareness about these stereotypes.