Nov 20, 2012, Equitas is celebrating National Child Day by giving out its annual Play it Fair! Award. This year’s winner is Heidy Wager, from the Dawson Community Centre in Verdun, Quebec, where she is the coordinator of programs for 5 to 12 year-olds. Heidy is being recognized for the leadership and creativity she has shown in promoting children’s rights and participation in her community using the Play it Fair! program. Present at the award ceremony : (from left to right) Julie Kon Kam King and Jean-Sébastien Vallée from Equitas, Cynthia Silvestriadis, Team Leader, award winner Heidy Wager, Line St-Amour, Executive Director of the Dawson Community Centre and Élise Voyer and Annie Pettigrew from Equitas The objective of the award is to recognize the contributions of Play it Fair! champions such as Heidy across Canada and to help motivate them to continue promoting Play it Fair!. Heidy was chosen for her exceptional contributions made in the field of children’s rights and participation using the Play it Fair! program. In partnership with Equitas since 2006, Heidy actively promotes Play It Fair! activities and values in her organization. After following two Trainings of Trainers with Equitas, she did in-house training on Equitas’ human rights approach with her staff, inviting them to use the toolkit, promote the values with the kids, and become actors of change in her community. She also coordinates an annual Play It Fair! day in the summer to promote children’s rights within the community. Heidy and the Dawson Community Centre were our first Montreal partner to use Play It Fair! in their after-school programming, and she was instrumental in establishing the introduction use of Equitas’ Speaking Rights program into programs with teens. “[Using Play It Fair!], we saw there were less issues of bullying, there were fewer issues of kids not feeling included in the group,” Heidy says. “We actually saw kids changing their behaviour and asking, ‘Is that right? Is that fair for that person?'” “The [Play It Fair!] program fits completely with our goals and objective and has been really easy to incorporate into our programs. The program teaches children’s about their human rights through fun and interactive games and a debriefing session. But most of all the children and staff love it!” Congratulations Heidy and Dawson Community Centre! Your work and enthusiasm are very inspiring for us and our partners across the country!