Creating environments for Indigenous youth to live & succeed | Tunchai Redvers | TEDxKitchenerED

[Music] it's Lana daya my given name is tan chai read verse and my spirit name is Baba McGuinn aqua or a white feather woman I am den a and matey from Treaty eight in the Northwest Territories and I'd first like to acknowledge the traditional lands of the hona shown a the nish nabe and neutral people that we are currently residing on in October 2016 my brother and I started something called the we matter campaign the we matter campaign is a national multimedia campaign which communicates with indigenous youth who may be struggling but no matter how hard life gets there is always a way forward within a month of launching this campaign we reached over a million people through our social media feeds almost a year later we have reached additional millions have over 20,000 followers and are now a full-time indigenous and youth led nonprofit committed to indigenous youth empowerment hope and life promotion we started we started this campaign because indigenous youth experienced the highest rates of addiction abuse violence school dropouts and suicide in Canada in fact indigenous youth die by suicide at a rate 5 to 11 times higher than non-indigenous Canadians this is a stark reality and these statistics are incredibly problematic but what is even more problematic is that indigenous youth are the fastest growing population in Canada meaning the current and upcoming generation of indigenous children and youth will soon make up a large percentage of this country's population if Canada's fastest growing demographic is also experiencing the highest rates of negative instances like suicide then we are failing as a nation so how do we change this well we need to create a new environment one where indigenous youth live and succeed and everybody is responsible for creating an environment where indigenous youth live and succeed so how do we do this how do we all create an environment where indigenous youth live and succeed I'm going to share with you some ways that we can do this but first let's understand things a little bit more you see as an indigenous youth growing up I never quite understood why I saw and experienced the problems I did I saw addiction violence and hopelessness in the communities and family I grew up in and I've had my own run-ins with trauma abuse and suicidal ideation it was only when I began to learn about the residential school but my grandmother grew up in did things begin to make sense through my own reflections experiences and work was we matter I came up with a way to visualize everything using the metaphor of a house imagine I am standing inside of a house right now above and around me there is the roof and foundation of the house this structure is oppression and colonialism which includes things like systemic racism the Indian Act the taking of indigenous lands and the removal of indigenous people from their lands residential schools dog slaughters and the 60 scoop to name a few within this structure in this house where I live there's furniture appliances everyday things imagine these everyday things being a loss of culture and language violence and lateral violence mental health issues and illness stereotypes abuse bullying trauma isolation and a lack of public representation these things are a direct to results of this colonial structure as a young person living inside of this house I'm like a human sponge I'm soaking in all of these things I'm soaking in everything around me but I also don't know how to get out of the house I'm kind of locked in as a young person I have some pretty limited coping skills I'm also trying to do with all of the general challenges that go along with being an adolescent such as school and managing relationships and because I am indigenous there is a lack of support and resources and especially culturally appropriate resources that are available to me after soaking a lot of this in I'm starting to feel pretty heavy like a soaking wet sponge I have just internalized everything and I'm really lacking a sense of positive identity I am now a young person who's feeling pretty lonely I could be experiencing things like like mental health identity self-esteem issues I could be having feelings of shame depression a sense of hopelessness and I'm turning to things like drugs alcohol self-harm and suicide because I don't know what else to do I've been at this state before and it's a really hard place to be and as a young person a lot of the time I'm feeling and experiencing all of these things without understanding why this has become my normal I don't realize that there's this structure this narrative this environment that has created the ongoing context and reality in which I live however there is an alternate environment one that is nurturing and supportive of indigenous youth and is structured so that youth live and succeed this decolonized structure includes things like affirmation and support relatable role models and the challenging of current norms public discourse and media does a really good job at affirming the negative the hopelessness of indigenous communities and youth but what if we affirmed the positive what if we fostered local and national narratives that focused more on the beauty and strengths of indigenous communities and youth what if instead of headlines like this we saw more headlines like this supporting youth means centering youth needs and voices nobody knows what a person needs most more than the person who needs it indigenous youth need to know that they are heard that they are valued but they are supported and that they're loved growing up I had a really hard time believing that indigenous people could be successful I had a hard time seeing positive role models that I could relate to musicians actors doctors entrepreneurs engineers politicians indigenous youth need to know that there is hope for them to succeed and be connected to positive and healthy role models that they can connect to both personally and culturally there are two norms that still exist today one norm makes it really difficult to talk about complicated and taboo issues like mental health and abuse yet young people need to know that it's okay to talk about their experiences and struggles because if a young person doesn't think that it's okay to talk about something then they're not going to ask for help the second norm favors supports and resources that are rooted in Western perspectives but effective programming mental health and well-being resources for indigenous youth need to be approached from an indigenous perspective okay so if we are all responsible for creating this environment exactly what are some things that we can do to build it here are three things that you can do number one learn about and understand the historic and present context of indigenous communities while acknowledging the hardships and barriers that indigenous youth face today this means actively seeking out indigenous authors academics journalists are and media there are tons of resources and indigenous created content out there from poetry to novels to music to movies to podcasts to magazines that all speak to authentic experiences both past and present even better visit physical places visit a nearby First Nation a Friendship Centre or tour an old residential school number to actively honor indigenous and youth strengths this means directly asking youth what they need giving them a space at decision making tables at roundtables promoting youth led initiatives invite them into boardrooms show up for them at their events at their suicide awareness and water walks and ask them what you can do for them engage with indigenous youth and promote positive media and representation don't just scroll through click and share posts and articles that talk about overdose deaths and suicide rather than perpetuating stereotypes and hopeless hopelessness find and share articles that promote positivity if you're in media or reporting then interview youth report on the hopeful things amplify the strengths and successes the tribe called Redd's the university graduates the people who create we matter videos what you choose to engage with talk about and share has a ripple effect number three support the indigenous Asian of youth programs and resources invest in supports and resources that are specific to context and identity specifically programs and resources that are rooted in tradition land language and culture invest in mentorship programs work with indigenous groups to create indigenous specific mental health content review your funding models to ensure that they are culturally and youth accessible donate to community projects and groups prioritize indigenous and youth-led projects and write to local MPs and national leaders about the importance of supporting indigenous led and rooted action write those letters and speak up more importantly accept indigenous and youths knowledge as expert knowledge hold those voices up these are all things that can be done these are all things that you can do now imagine that I am a young person standing inside of a house above and around me there's the roof and foundation of the house within this house there are things like resilience pride positivity love truthfulness strength culture and language hope representation unity confidence coping and opportunity like a human sponge I am soaking in all of these things this is my reality this is my normal as individuals as families as communities as a nation we all play a role in creating environments we can choose to perpetuate a negative and toxic environment that exists for indigenous youth or we can build a new environment that honors and supports indigenous youth and sees them live and succeed so which structure which narrative which environment do you want to be responsible for creating Marci Cho thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 37,053

Rating: 4.9247465 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Education, Health, Identity, Schools, Social Change, Students, Youth

Id: zwLR23fHBQU

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 27 2017