AthletesCAN is turning 15 this year and Yukon residents have been invited to take part in the big celebration.

Approximately 30 of Canada's current and former elite athletes opened a four-day forum by speaking to students at schools across the territory today, and they'll be joined by more of their peers as the information sessions get underway Friday in Whitehorse.

The forum is AthletesCAN's flagship event. Hosted annually, it is the largest and most inclusive gathering of Canada's national team athlete representatives outside of competition.

The forum brings together Canada's high performance athletes to network with others, share ideas, learn about the sport system and develop leadership skills.

'AthletesCAN is a collective voice for all national team athletes,' said staff member Jasmine Northcott, in an interview Wednesday. 'The mandate of our organization is to create a fair, responsible and more supportive system for national team athletes in Canada.

'We want to make sure that athletes are heard at the decision-making tables.

'We not only advocate on their behalf, but give them the tools to be able to advocate on their own behalf, and be decision-makers and key influencers within their sports.'

In partnership with Sport Yukon and Active Schools, members of AthletesCAN got things underway with the second annual KidsCAN School Day this morning.

Athletes are visiting schools in Whitehorse and surrounding communities to share their experiences as national team athletes, promote sport and physical activity, and play with the kids.

The majority of the athletes will also join students from the schools for a special Terry Fox Run this afternoon.

Friday and Saturday, the Westmark Whitehorse Hotel and Conference Centre will host various information and meeting sessions.

A large focus of this year's forum will be the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, and the things that are important for the competing athletes to know before they arrive at the Games.

As well, there will be a special presentation on climate change Friday afternoon by Canadian alpine skier and three-time Olympian Thomas Grandi, who is affiliated with the David Suzuki Foundation.

VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) member Bill Cooper will give a presentation on the use of athlete imagery Saturday.

'This year is our 15th anniversary, so of course we'll be celebrating our achievements so far,' added Northcott.

The first and greatest step the organization has made since its inception, is just the fact that athletes are at the decision-making tables now, she said. They're sitting on high performance committees, helping make decisions when it comes to team selection policies, doping policies, carding policies and the type of funding athletes receive.

'AthletesCAN started out as a group of athletes sitting around a kitchen table in 1992, saying, the system doesn't work. We're not being respected and we're not being heard,'' explained Northcott.

'We can safely say now, today, that is completely different.'

Canada is very unique in the fact the country even has such an organization.

AthletesCAN was the first organization of its kind in the world, and sat by themselves until just a couple of years ago when a few other countries decided to follow suit.

'We want to see more countries doing it,' stated Northcott.

'We'd love the company.'