Get inspired by these 10 changemakers in 2026, honoured as CBC Sask.'s Future 40
These local champions under the age of 40 are working hard to make a positive impact
CBC Saskatchewan's Future 40 is back! Every 18 months, CBC Saskatchewan recognizes an outstanding group of Saskatchewanians under the age of 40 who are making a difference in their communities.
From a list of dozens of worthy nominees, we’ve chosen 10 young people who’ve demonstrated their passion for our province and who are making Saskatchewan a great place to live, work and play. Get inspired by meeting our Future 40 winners for 2026.
A passion for education
Vishall Agasthian, 19, believes young people have the power to make a difference in their world, leading him to found the non-profit InspirED Sask. The group educates young people on everything from how to vote to taking care of their sexual or mental health. InspirED volunteers have also worked to give back to the community, for instance by collecting menstrual products to give to local shelters and addressing food insecurity by exchanging pizza slices in return for food bank donations.
“That's always a big hit on campus and it's always amazing to see how many young people are willing to come out and and give back to their community,” Agasthian said of the Pizza With a Purpose event.
With a long list of voluntary service in the community and a passion for research as a university student, Agasthian says receiving the Future 40 nomination isn’t his achievement alone, but also a credit to his fellow InspirED team, his family and others who’ve supported his goals.
“As much as it's an honour to me to be able to receive this award, I think it's as much as an honour for all those people that have helped me to get to where I am today and be able to grow as a person.”
The quiet force behind OUTSaskatoon
Often, it’s the CEOs or board chairs of non-profits who are front and centre in the public, but OUTSaskatoon chair Melody Wood says others can quietly lead and make a big impact, too.
That’s why she nominated her colleague, OUTSaskatoon’s operations manager, Lanelle Big Eagle, as a Future 40 recipient.
“That quiet force that works behind the scenes that’s really foundational to the re-growth of OUTSaskatoon? That’s definitely Lanelle,” she said.
Big Eagle was among the staff OUTSaskatoon had to lay off in the last couple of years as it faced inner tumult and funding challenges. However, Big Eagle was rehired and helped the organization rebuild, reorganize its finances and helped it find and move into a new, accessible space, Wood says.
Big Eagle, who says she was blown away that her colleagues recognized her for her efforts, understands the importance of the work OUTSaskatoon does in providing a safe and inclusive space for the queer community. Big Eagle recalls the struggle to find comfort and acceptance she and her partner sought in White Bear First Nations before they moved to Saskatoon nine years ago.
“Coming from a small First Nations community, we didn’t really feel welcome or, like, there were safe spaces for us. To come to Saskatoon and realize we could be out and loud and proud, we don’t have to feel different,” she said, adding that’s what drives her passion to help others in the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Climate activist works for love, peace and mushrooms
Twelve-year-old Kiké Dueck is proof that you can make a big impact on the community at any age.
The Regina-based climate activist has tackled the climate emergency with fervour over the last 18 months, presenting a petition in the Saskatchewan legislature calling on the government to take action on climate change, speaking as a delegate at city council, and organizing multiple climate rallies at both city hall and the legislature.
“I love trees, I love birds, I love mushrooms,” Dueck said, adding that learning about climate change was anxiety-inducing. “I really was scared for my future and for everything else that I cared about. Eventually that drove me to act because I knew that action can help me feel better.”
Dueck says it’s hard on young people to feel insecure about their future, but hopes many people can come together to solve a collective problem.
“We all want a future for ourselves. We want justice. We want nature to prevail,” Dueck said, pausing to think for a second about what a better world might look like.
“We want peace and love — and mushrooms!”
A force for cultural connection
When she immigrated to Canada, Amarachi Ejike and her husband wanted to make sure they could maintain their connection to their Nigerian roots.
“We just wanted to make Regina, Saskatchewan home, and have other people feel the same way,” she said.
She and her husband Victor co-founded the non-profit Afro Tribes four years ago, which has exploded into several initiatives, including a summer Afro Tribes music festival, a seniors day program and a February jazz/Black History Month celebration.
Of all her accomplishments though, she says she’s most proud of starting a six-week summer camp that provides an affordable and fun child-care option that exposes kids to African culture, music and stories.
“All of the kids that attend Afro Tribes summer camp leave Afro Tribes at the end of summer camp happy and better and grounded knowing where exactly they’re from, their cultural heritage,” she said, adding children from non-African backgrounds also come and learn from the camp.
Seeing people embrace Afro Tribe programming and connect with each other is a source of pride for her.
“It’s just humanity, basically, helping people feel like they’re home now. Saskatchewan is home. If you’re living here, you can make it your home. That’s what AfroTribes is basically about.”
Justice through writing and arts
At a time when he was feeling dispirited about the state of justice, arts helped Miguel Fenrich make sense of the world. That feeling of frustration built after the Gerald Stanley trial in Saskatchewan and the murder of George Floyd in the U.S. during COVID.
“I was [thinking], how can we best inform, educate, try and explain some perspectives that I had?” he said. “It's always through storytelling, right?”
He began writing and figured out his own voice as he went along, which has expanded into what he described as “this amazing career in the arts that I’m so fortunate to have.”
He’s since written two books, Blue: A Novel, and What Lies in the Valley, that take a decolonial and anti-racist lens in examining life.
The motivation, he says, lies in changing how people see the world around them.
“So when I have someone come up to me and say, ‘Oh, this changed my perspective or this helped me understand something better,' I'm like, great, that's a success, and that's the only thing I'm going to strive for.”
Empowering Afghan women
There might always be forces at work to keep some voices silenced, but Maryam Masoomi has fought against the ones that would tell her and fellow Afghani women to be silent.
Masoomi, 28, was a university student and leader of the Sound of Afghanistan, an all-female music group that sang about education, peace and female empowerment. When the Taliban reclaimed power in the country, Masoomi fled to Canada.
“We thought that we would never sing again," she recalled."We were so hopeless.”
However, she and her group reorganized in Saskatoon and were able to sing during a Canada Day celebration in the city.
Now, she has has a job with the Saskatoon Open Door Society, and has channeled her energy into helping other newcomers adjust to life in Canada. At the same time, she’s encouraged members of her singing group to keep writing about their lives in Canada and their hopes that people in their home country would someday enjoy freedom.
“If the world can hear a girl’s voice and power, that would be wonderful.”
Changing the world starts at home
Advocacy and diplomacy work has taken Heather O’Watch all over the world, but she says she will always consider herself from Treaty 4 territory right here in Saskatchewan.
O’Watch, 30 , has championed Indigenous rights and youth advocacy from a young age, which has seen her tapped to join a youth summit in Japan and to serve the Young Diplomats of Canada as a Sask.-based executive. She said her experiences made her want to share her knowledge.
“So my understanding was, OK, all the things that I'm learning and understanding about the world, how do I amplify that and, and localize it?” she said.
To do that, she founded Timpsina Society, an initiative to empower Indigenous youth to learn more about policy and how they can use that knowledge to apply and drive change in their own communities.
She’s also written a children’s book and done readings throughout Saskatchewan incorporating Plains Sign Language, part of her goal to empower young people in local communities.
“I think it's important to stay connected to where you are and where you come from, and to know who you are. And a big part of who I am is being here from Treaty 4 territory,” she said.
“It's a big, proud moment for me because, yeah, I am still in Saskatchewan but I am able to somewhat be a part of helping change [the] world.”
Whistle while you work
You might notice Mike Sheinin out coaching rugby or at a tech event or even at a whistling competition. The Saskatoon man, 36, works at Siemens EDA, a tech company in Saskatchewan, but in his spare time he’s heavily involved in the sports world, including as a rugby player and coach.
But outside of Saskatchewan, he’s best known for his skills as a whistler and for his participation in international competitions. His taste for competition was whetted after seeing a video of competitive whistlers in 2017.
“I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, I could beat all these guys at whistling,’” he remembered thinking. Now, it’s a chance to express himself and vie to be the best in the world.
He doesn’t drink coffee or energy drinks, so when asked how he gets the energy to do everything he’s involved in, he’s momentarily stumped.
“I think it's just for me … my mind has to be doing something,” he said, describing himself as a "doer."
“There's a lot of interesting things that you can do in the world. And so I found a few things that I enjoy and I try to move them forward as much as I can.”
It’s not just hip hop, it’s life-affirming art.
For Zoe Slusar, the reason for art is simple: It saves lives.
“That’s been true for my life,” she said, adding art gave her an avenue to process trauma, find a healthy, positive coping mechanism through achieving a flow state, and enabled her to find sobriety.
“And I was able to connect through hip hop to other humans and get that sense of belonging,’ said 37-year-old Slusar, who also goes by ZHE the Free.
Having found joy in hip hop, Slusar now works to help others connect with art and music, working as an artist mentor in inner-city Saskatoon and in youth correctional facilities.
“I've seen people transform in terms of their confidence. I've seen people transform in terms of their ability to have faith in strength, to say what they need to say, to let out grief, to let out anger,” she said.
Young people need to know their stories are valuable, and when they feel strong and comfortable in their own voice and skin, they’re also more capable of making better decisions for themselves, she says. Nevertheless, she’s all too aware of the strain front-line workers face when working with vulnerable young people.
“We lose young people that we love and it can be really hard on your heart,” she said, adding the Future 40 recognition helped her see the work is making a difference.
“We do need creative spaces, we need free programming to be available, we need young people to be supported and uplifted and feel like they matter,” said Slusar. “So it's really good for me to have a little bit of a push and encouragement and I'm very grateful.”
Moving to heal from sexual violence
Linzi Stoddard has come to realize just how powerful it can be to move, a realization she’s built into her work helping survivors of sexual violence.
“When COVID hit and everything came to a stop, I really realized the impact [it] had on me, not just mentally but physically on my body,” she said.
She says moving while focusing on her body and mind helped her reconnect, and realize how that intentional movement might help others.
Stoddard founded the You are More Project in 2021, which supports survivors of sexual violence through trauma-informed, body-based projects. The non-profit hosts a Free to Be Festival that offers multiple classes in partnership with fitness groups for sexual violence survivors and allies. She says it’s an “electric” experience.
“Everyone just comes out of the day feeling connected and rejuvenated, renewed. And it just is such an amazing collective experience to not only move together, but also understand the benefits of that.”
The award helps reinforce that the work You are More is doing is being recognized, she says.
“I think it's so important that sexual violence prevention comes to the forefront of the news and people because it affects more of us than we realize. And so creating this conversation is really, really impactful for myself and our community.”
