Peer leaders spread message of traditional way

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This summer, the Youth Action Alliance of Manitoulin (YAA-MAN) began its efforts to share information about tobacco with First Nation communities.

Eight peer leaders employed by YAA-MAN set out on a canoe excursion through the North Channel to raise awareness of tobacco misuse and to encourage First Nation communities to return to traditional tobacco use.

From Aug. 7 to 11, YAA-MAN members paddled their way to four First Nation communities-Mchigeeng, Aundek Omni Kaning and Sheguiandah First Nations and the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve. With each stop the peer leaders gave a presentation focusing on who they were, what they were doing and why.

YAA-MAN is part of the Youth Action Alliance program, a province-wide initiative of the Ministry of Health Promotion designed to get youth more involved in tobacco control activities in their communities. There are 49 Youth Action Alliance projects currently running across Ontario but YAA-MAN is the only on-reserve all-Aboriginal group taking part.

The YAA-MAN participants range in age from 14 to 18 and include four youth from Wikwemikong-Nicole Jacko-Metansinine, Marcie Tabobondug, Sasha Trudeau and Amanda Wassegijig. The other four leaders-James Beaudin, Floyd Ense, Adam Migwans and Vincent Migwans-are from the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin UCCM area.

Part of the challenge of tackling issues around smoking and tobacco use on First Nations is that attitudes about smoking are different on reserve than they are in urban centres, explained Alanna Trudeau, youth advisor at the Waasa Naabin Community Youth Services Centre, the organization co-ordinating the YAA-MAN project.

"It's a real up hill battle working on a First Nation, where most people think it's normal to smoke in their vehicle with their kid in the car," she said. "Those rules aren't heavily enforced on the reserve and that's a real problem for the health unit because they're the ones who have health inspectors and health inspectors are not welcome on the reserve."

Trudeau believes that enforcing some of the smoking restrictions that cities abide by on reserves would make for a healthier lifestyle.

"I think the idea of enforcing a smoking area at nine meters away from the door, enforcing the bylaws that have been put in place in Ontario and enforcing them on the reserves, would be excellent. And not hiding behind the idea of we don't have to do it because we're on the reserve," said Trudeau. "I understand about self-governance and sovereignty and all that ... but what I look at is that we have to do this because it's our health and our future that we're thinking about."

Trudeau said the idea behind YAA-MAN isn't to lecture First Nation communities, it's to help them realize the dangers of smoking and chewing tobacco.

Alanna Trudeau stressed the need to denormalize smoking, giving an example to illustrate the influence that smoking has on young children, who see so many people around them smoking and view it as normal and acceptable.

"Grade 2 kids may have trouble reading because they are just learning but when I mentioned du Maurier or Player's Light, they recognized the name immediately and they told me the color of the package. They knew this because it's normal to them," said Trudeau.

"The idea for my team leaders is to denormalize smoking and tobacco misuse ... It's not normal to poison yourself. It's not normal to smoke or chew snuff. The affects are so deadly and people just don't understand it because it's played down by the media and by tobacco companies."

Trudeau said that people have a lot of misconceptions about chewing tobacco, believing that it's less harmful than actually smoking a cigarette.

"Well it's not. It has the same affects, but worse," she said. "You get receding gum lines, your breath smells really bad, and there's the potential that you could lose part of your face. You can lose part of your jaw to cancer and it can hit pretty fast depending on how much you use it

YAA-MAN gave the same presentation to each of the communities they stopped in, informing the groups of what's in a can of chewing tobacco that is so harmful.

"Tobacco is the number one ingredient followed by sugar, which tells you that there's a high sugar content," said Trudeau. "There's also fiberglass, which cuts up the inside of your mouth, so that the tobacco can get to your blood stream quicker," she said.

Although this was a part-time job for the eight peer leaders, Trudeau said they all worked really hard in the fight against tobacco misuse and the promotion of traditional use.

Most of the peer leaders already had traditional tobacco knowledge gained through their involvement in ceremonies, but others were just learning about traditional ways through local Elders and research. Trudeau brought the kids to Wiky to meet with a local Elder and with Gordon Waindubence, the regional Elder for the Union of Ontario Indians.

"Gordon gave us a lot of information on tobacco use and just traditions in general," said Trudeau.

Waindubence also offered his 26-foot canoe for the YAA-MAN canoe trip.

The YAA-MAN leaders tried to get the concept of the sacredness of tobacco across to their audiences, Trudeau said. They spoke about the basics of tobacco like how to use it, what it looks like and that you hold it in your left hand because it's closest to your heart.

"They talked about how the Creator gave us tobacco and we need to understand that tobacco is our link to the Creator. That's our way to make an offering and to be thankful for this wonderful life that we have" she said.

If the funding continues for this program, 16-year old Vince Migwans said he would probably apply to be involved again because of what he was able to promote.

"We talked about the harmful affects of smoking and chewing tobacco, like what it can do and the stuff that's in it," said Migwans, a Grade 11 Manitoulin secondary school (MSS) student. "The kids think it's normal to smoke and they e their parents doing it and their friends do it so they think they might as well do it too, so we were there to talk about what it should be really used for."

YAA-MAN is working on another initiative for the fall, when they are hoping to tie hockey into their message. "Hockey is really big on the reserve," Trudeau said.

Trudeau is hoping that, over time, more people will become aware of the YAA-MAN project and people will begin to invite the peer leaders to do workshops and presentations on tobacco use and misuse.

For more information or to book a YAA-MAN presentation, call Trudeau at (705) 859-3597.