Aboriginal Next Steps: Westbank

Westbank youth came together in their beautiful Wellness Centre on April 21, 2008. They were a contemplative group and represented their films thoughtfully at the Film Premiere & Community Dialogue night. I admired how supportive they were of each other and the insights they shared with the audience. They had three Community Action Plan working groups: 1) Physical & Emotional Health; 2) Substance Use & Abuse; and 3) Marginalized youth. Groups 2 & 3 worked together to make a Claymation film.

Special thanks to Anna Soole from our partner organization Healing Our Spirit for joining us and providing additional information, such as illustrating the connection between substance use/abuse and HIV and Hepatitis C.

The Film Premiere & Community Dinner was hosted by the Westbank First Nation.

Youth who feel more connected to their families have better health and take fewer risks. Aboriginal students who report good or excellent physical health have stronger family connections than youth who report being in poor health. Physical and sexual abuse has steadily declined during the past decade; although the rate of abuse is still higher for Aboriginal youth than for non-Aboriginal youth. Additionally, abuse is linked to risky behaviours among young people. This group focused on strengthening the community through the provision of additional support for families. In turn, their film speaks to the cycles we may choose to participate in - both positive and negative

Fewer Aborginal youth are dinking alcohol and the percentage of Aborginal youth ever trying alcohol has declined. However, among youth who drink alcohol, binge drinking has not decreased over the past decade. Research has also shown that substance use is associated with lower family connectedness. This group of youth had some creative solutions for addressing substance use in their community.

Research to Action Plan:

• Our community goal is... Education and community action.
• Describe what you would do...Bylaw officers need to crack down, undercover cops, ages 10-15 need a curfew, Aboriginal drug & alcohol counsellors, personal stories of youth who have succeeded in beating addiction, the truth about who is using sustances--when & why.

Against the Odds: A profile of marginalized and street-involved youth in BC 2007 was a study conducted in nine communities across BC. The youth who participated in this survey reside at the margins of our society. Among these youth, Aboriginal youth are over-represented (a significant increase from 36% in 2000 to 57%). Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning teens were also over-represented among marginalized and street-involved youth: fewer than 60% of youth surveyed identified as exclusively heterosexual and more than one in five identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Several youth stated that they recognized their "street family" as more supportive than their original or biological family, and were able to report strong connections and ties with the surrogate families they had created. This film is about providing professional experiential support and education for questioning Aboriginal youth, their families and their communities.