This thesis engages in a critical analysis of main-stream approaches to international youth exchange as they relate to colonial influences on identity construction. I engage with potentials for healing and transformation based on my and others' experiences involved in international programs (alternative and main-stream). I explore barriers to participation in international programs for youth who have been socially marginalized within Canada. By engaging in a Participatory Action Research process with three groups of youth who participated in international programs, I discuss and document issues faced by these people emerging from their involvement in international placements and co-examine social consciousness regarding issues of power. I wish this process to provide a framework for discussion and action possibly leading to alternative models of international programs involving youth who have been socially marginalized that give voice to traditional Indigenous values, earth and community healing, and a critical social consciousness rooted in traditional wisdom.