11 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
SUPPLEMENT TO THE FREE PRESS • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022
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The benefits of a centre for youth ripple out into the community. “I’ve seen a lot of newcomer youth teaching their parents about the culture here. The parents often don’t know the language so it slows their learning process,” he says. He says newcomers haven’t been introduced to Indigenous history and don’t know what they have been through — yet they can find much in common. “An Indigenous person might see newcomers here and think: Why are these people coming to my coun- try? For an Indigenous person, there’s no clear an- swer to that,” he says. “But if they come to our drop-in centre, they might learn that this newcomer had no choice but to run away for their life and they ended up here — just as much as Indigenous peoples did not have a choice.
They were displaced; they were taken away from their homes. That would hopefully build a bridge be- tween the two communities, to share those experi- ences and learn how we can work together and move forward from here.” The first goal is to welcome youth into the setting and establish a sense of comfort and safety and for everyone to get to know each other. Once everyone is feeling at home, they’ll be invited to participate in the programming. “Along the way, we will be regularly repeating our Indigenous workshop and we’ll build bigger connec- tions with more workshops as we go,” says Al Khat- tab. “It could be arts or music or crafts — whatever the youth have an interest in.”
The workshops are a way to introduce different Indigenous cultures to people that are not familiar, as well as to Indigenous youth that may have lost that connection to their culture and were not brought up in the traditional way.” Jenna Valiquette, — Indigenous youth co-facilitator
SUPPLIED PHOTOS
The community gathered together at a recent launch event for Altered Minds Inc.
Proud to celebrate working with our partners to create opportunities for indigenous youth for over twenty years. www.wascac.info
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