Student brings Indigenous language revitalization and homelessness to the global stage

Naomi Jacko, a second year sociology major at the University of Alberta, was chosen to speak at the World Social Forum in August 2026. She brought her lived experience as an Indigenous person to the global community and highlighted the importance of culture to revitalize identity. 

The World Social Forum is a global platform for community leaders, activists, and others to come together and collaborate on an international scale. Speakers address injustices from around the world and present solutions to them.

Fostering culture leads to stabilized housing

Jacko is someone continually interested in social justice and activism. She was selected to speak at the World Social Forum after she spoke at Pedagogy of Ahimsa, a conference to help marginalized youth attain a good education. 

She has been a chair for two years under the Reaching Home Directives. The program provides federal funding to address and find different approaches to Indigenous homelessness. Jacko herself is Denesuline and Métis from Cold Lake First Nations and Elizabeth Settlement.

She also teaches Cree to marginalized youth and caretakers in Edmonton.

“I didn’t believe that [presenting at the forum] would be something offered to me as an Indigenous person who hasn’t always had the easiest time with institutions,” Jacko reflected.

She presented on the theme of peacebuilding through culture and what that looks like on a local scale. Through working with Restoring Home Fires, an Edmonton initiative addressing Indigenous homelessness, Jacko realized early on that “we need to re-implement culture into people’s lives.” 

“The people who were heavily involved in tradition or learning their language again were the people who could become more stabilized and sustain housing longer,” Jacko said. 

At the forum, she championed that culture needs to be at the forefront to help combat homelessness. Disconnection from identity leads to a disconnection from culture, language, and ultimately purpose. Jacko explained that when those connections are re-established, factors like housing are sustained.

Mental health improves and substance use also goes down when culture is promoted.

Statistics prove her theory right. After mandating agencies that have funded culture here in the city, “489 people were housed in Edmonton,” according to Jacko. 

Teaching the global community about Indigenous Peoples

Jacko, a descendant of four residential school survivors, brought her lived experience and knowledge to the World Social Forum.

She presented the usage of the medicine wheel as well as the seven generation ways of thinking. While the fomer addresses the idea of equilibrium, the latter considers how current actions will affect future generations.

Both of these examples helped Jacko champion reintegration of culture on a local level and educate the public about Indigenous culture.  

“It brought [me] tears of joy to speak on an international stage about the things that happen to Indigenous people, but also the resiliency.” 

Many at the forum were surprised to hear about Canada’s past of residential schools, and that some Indigenous communities still lack access to clean drinking water. 

She talked about the relationship of reciprocity that Indigenous Peoples had with the land before colonists had arrived, which really piqued the interest of the international community. 

Overall, a main theme of the forum was a focus on collectivism. Indigeneity, women, representation in politics, and sustainability were recurrent topics throughout presentations. Many stressed the importance of putting marginalized communities at the forefront. 

Even though this year’s World Social Forum is over, Jacko has no plans to slow down her activism work. 

She plans to take the lessons she learnt at the World Social Forum and apply them to the future workshops she will be conducting. Including a public presentation at the U of A happening later in the 2026 fall term.