Group takes to the road to celebrate Aboriginal Day

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For one group of young men, the journey was just as important as the destination.

Members of Regina's Street Culture Youth Project biked from Regina to Edmonton for National Aboriginal Day celebrations. Along the way, they learned about their land and each other.

"I wanted to know the team better, to become a family," said 21-year-old Lawrence Henry from Regina. Despite a knee injury sustained early in the trip, Henry said the experience had been "awesome."

"It's a real male bonding experience with no distractions like television or city life."

The nine youth and their leaders biked an average of 200 km a day. The journey was set up as a relay, with money raised from sponsors going to the Saskatchewan Science Centre and Regina's Albert Community Library.

"Each kid sets a goal, say 20 km, and then we set them up in teams so they can make those goals," says Street Culture Youth Project executive director Kim Sutherland. "Goal achievement is really important so that people will have a plan."

Personal support and employment skills development are the two mandates of the Street Culture Youth Project, a non-profit organization that works with inner-city youth.

"The young people are for the most part youth in need of service, and service can mean helping them to stronger education, to helping them with employment skills development for a better employment future," said Sutherland during a rest stop outside of Battleford.

At night, the group camped out under the stars, telling stories and singing songs. The group made time for frequent side trips, such as one to Jackfish Lake. They avoided the main highway and instead stuck to the back roads.

The youth also learned about health, through months of regular training workouts at the Regina YMCA. "A fair amount of the young people smoke, so it helps them to see how inconsistent smoking is with good health," Sutherland explained.

The Saskatchewan Science Centre gave the group "fun science" projects to do as well , such as measuring caloric burn and liquid intake.

The third focus of the relay project was literacy. "We have lots of books with daily affirmations and we read and discuss them around the fire," Sutherland said.

Despite the threat of tornadoes, oppressive heat and a few minor injuries, Sutherland is calling the journey a success. "Everyone's staying positive and really pulling together," he said, adding that some of the men take on extra relay shifts when their friends are too tired to do their share.

In Edmonton, the group joined other First Nations people from across the country in time for National Aboriginal Day, June 21. There, they painted faces, performed puppet shows, and congratulated themselves on a job well done and a journey well taken.