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What our youth taught us
Urban Aboriginal youth live in “two worlds” and actively want to explore and learn more about
their identity and heritage. Creating a variety of ways for youth to participate helps youth relate to and support each other. Being a mentor, chairing a meeting, offering ideas, listening, participating in decision-making, attending a youth drop-in, and cooking and eating together, are many of the ways youth participated. Connecting with peers also means that if you struggle with identity, you will meet others who may also struggle, and still others who have found they belong – everyone can help everyone. The youth knew they were always welcome and that no one would tell them they didn’t belong.
Successful youth engagement does not depend on a project or program. Instead, it comes down
to “planting the seeds” for engagement through tradition and culture. Aboriginal worldviews and traditional teachings offer urban Aboriginal youth a bridge to identity, family and community. In the medicine wheel, the ‘self’ is in the centre. If you are not good with the self, you are not good with all of the other realms. Aboriginal teachings help youth to find that self while connecting to culture, peers, family and community. With an emphasis on learning and doing through relationships, our youth were supported to become involved, participate, share, teach, learn, lead and act. All of these experiences, in turn, improve the self. The improved self then shares with others, flowing back through the circles.
Youth cannot do it alone; Aboriginal teachings stress the importance of relationships and connectedness. Youth need adults to provide them with consistent support, resources or a resource base to connect with, space and time to build trust and to pursue their interests and goals and/or ask for help. Food and consistency are fundamental building blocks, especially when first establishing relationships. Many of our youth do not have any food or enough food in their homes.
Many factors contribute to successful youth engagement: youth being able to determine their own goals and organize themselves; cultural programing; relationships with the Friendship Centre and U-ACT staff, peers, mentors, seniors, Elders and Grandmothers; peer learning and peer mentoring; consistent availability of time, space, support, and resources within the Centre and in the broader community, etc. It would also be important to delve more into the inter-connection of these factors. We created a diagram showing our growing understanding of how these factors interconnect—see Figure 2.
What inspires you?
The young people. Because you see, the way young people are, young First Nations, I didn’t have that chance much, as a younger person.
Gabriel Tookate Honoured at Shine-A Light Gala
When we looked back and compared our experiences with the broader literature on youth engagement and empowerment, we realized there are gaps: little information focuses specifically on urban Aboriginal youth. In addition, the information that is there focuses on programming, and not on
other forms of engagement such as civic action and advocacy. By fostering an environment where the youth determined their goals and activities, we were supporting them to create their own forms of engagement.
Walking the Red Road | REPORT OF THE URBAN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES THRIVE PROJECT | 72
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