Regina resident receives scholarship from AstraZeneca, one of 10 recipients across Canada

WATCH: A Regina non-profit has been awarded a $10,000 scholarship to bring climate awareness education to the next generation.

A scholarship worth $10,000 has been given to a non-for-profit leader that lives in Regina. “Break The Divide” will be given $10,000 to bring climate awareness education towards youth in Regina.

It’s a moment to reflect and see how far they’ve come. Their first initiatives started in Surrey, B.C. as a high initiative, working with students in the Northwest Territories.

The founder and executive director, Abhay Singh Sachal, who is studying at the University of Regina, is now localizing upcoming programs in the city.

“To pair up young people with other activist people that have been taking action and living in a sustainable way, that’s really what it’s all about.” he said.

The sum, given by AstraZeneca, a biopharmaceutical company, will be giving an eighteen-month fellowship to Break The Divide, who have the green light to start up their own leadership initiatives.

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Break The Divide hopes to help students and teachers provide more education and how to deal with climate emotions, while also figuring out how Regina and Canada can be more sustainable going forward.

“There are a lot of emotions about the state of the world and about climate change,” said Singh Sachal. “Here in Saskatchewan, we see the effects. Now every summer and throughout the year, we’ve seen extreme drought. We’re seeing forest fires that we’ve never seen before.

Sachal was the lone Saskatchewan representative to receive a scholarship from AstraZeneca for the “Eureka Fellowship for Youth Changemakers in Canada”. Four scholarships were given to Ontario citizens, three in British Columbia, and two in Quebec.

“We’ve been hearing directly from young people about how they feel about the state of the environment in Regina and in Saskatchewan over the past year,” Singh Sachal said. “What they’ve said is very clear, they want better urban density, they want walkable areas of the city, and they want improved transit. All of those are climate solutions that help everyone. Young people have also talked about ties with the fossil fuel industry, and the ways in which we continue to pollute and extract from the lands. A lot of Indigenous youth have talked about Indigenous ways of knowing and connecting with nature, being one with the land.”

Since starting back in 2017, Break The Divide has expanded internationally in places such as Peru, South Africa and India.