A Métis master in social work student at the University of Manitoba thesis project has emerged
from supporting both newcomer and Indigenous youth in various capacities, and experiencing alongside these youth the lack of good/community-driven information that each broad community has about the other, and how this can lead to misunderstandings, misperceptions and tension. This project is seeking to help fill this gap, by creating a youth-led and community-driven resource that centre on furthering the amount of good/community-driven information each broad community has about the other.
Project Connect explores the relationship building experience of a video-making process, where
Indigenous and newcomer youth create a video together that will explore a.) their identities as
Indigenous or newcomer peoples (what they want people to know, what they feel people get wrong,
anything they want to say – they will be in charge) and b.) their thoughts on the potential for
transformed relationships between both communities. The video that the youth create will then be
shared on YouTube and with Indigenous and newcomer serving organizations to be used as a potential educational resource. Outside of the video-making process, the youth will engage in Talking Circles and teachings from an Indigenous Elder and a Newcomer Knowledge Keeper, to deepen their
understandings about one another, and relationship building.