On June 25, 2020, the More Than Words team convened a webinar: A Conversation on Mentoring with Indigenous Girls and Young, bringing together over 40 participants from across Canada and South Africa. We had initially planned these conversations to take place face-to-face at the Imbizo Intergenerational in Durban, South Africa, June 29-July 3, 2020. Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for us to go ahead with these plans and the event will be postponed to 2021.

During the past challenging months, we have explored ways to connect up from a distance. In this effort, we held the Conversation on Mentoring online. We recognize that most online meeting platforms privilege some voices over others, due to the necessity for up-to-date technology and reliable internet connection. To enhance the accessibility of this discussion, we have produced an event report which is intended to be both a recap for those that were able to take part ‘live’ in the conversation as well as an activity update for our growing Indigenous-focused national network on the arts in youth-led approaches to support SGBV survivors and their families.