A Vision for Everyone

Jeremy Dias, a 24-year-old University of Ottawa student, has been chosen as a nominee for this year's Br!ck awards. The honor, given by the US volunteer initiative Do Something, prides itself as "the Oscars of youth service awards." Dias is being recognized for his work with Jer's Vision, an organization he started.

A self-identified gay male of South Asian descent, Jeremy Dias has been a proponent for social change from a young age. As a teenager, he combated discrimination against sexual orientation by establishing the Sault Ste. Marie region's first LGBTQ youth group. A few years later Jeremy went on to set up Jer's Vision: Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative. Dias, along with 800 volunteers and countless sponsors, visits schools across the nation to educate students on the effects of discrimination and the importance of diversity.

It always makes my day when someone from our generation is on the forefront of social change. It's people like Jeremy Dias who prove that apathy is not a disease effecting all of us. Teaching students (at any age) to value diversity is often neglected or only focused on certain spheres. In a day where a 15-year old can be shot because of his sexuality, one can only imagine how different the world would be if more organizations like Jer's Vision existed.


Jeremy Dias featured in the Ottawa Sun

Jer's Vision: Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative