Youth have more opportunities in the new millennium

Page 7

Usually my columns are politically motivated, complaining about government, social problems with Native youth, unemployment rates, and drop out rates. However this month I've decided to look at some positive things our Native youth have accomplished in the past 10 years, and how they will positively affect the new millennium. It's been a decade of improvement and empowerment, and Native youth still have a long way to go before creating positive changes in their own communities. Not to say change has not been created, but Native youth still need to take on a bigger responsibility in creating change for themselves and their peers as the new millennium begins.

The 90s was an excellent decade. Native youth were very active in sports, culture, education, and entrepreneurship. There were the North American Indigenous Games that attracted Native youth from across Indian Country to participate in a number of sports like basketball and track and field. Also in Saskatchewan, there were the annual First Nations summer and winter games, which took place in different Native communities, attracting more than 5,000 athletes from 72 bands. The next winter games are taking place in Prince Albert, where the 1993 Indigenous games were held.

Other sports Native youth have excelled in are volleyball, soccer, and hockey. If the Lebret Eagles and Beardy Blackhawks don't ring a bell, then you're probably reading the wrong newspaper. The Lebret Eagles are in the SJHL (Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League), and are an excellent team with many talented Native players. The Beardy's Blackhawks are an AAA Midget Hockey club that has been very successful with a roster of many excellent Native players.

Native youth have also become successful in business as well. Entrepreneurship has been on the rise, with new businesses opening every day, and more programs and business opportunities opening up for Native youth. Organizations such as the Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation have provided loans through their youth programs to provide Native youth with the opportunity to open up new ventures. Aboriginal Business Canada is another organization that has provided grants to Native youth who have started successful businesses. In the past decade these organizations have been committed to Native youth entrepreneurship. With the new millennium, we should only expect to see more positive outcomes for young Native entrepreneurs.

The number of post secondary students has been on the rise as well, with more students enrolling in Native run institutions in Saskatchewan. In the past, there wasn't much choice of which institution a Native student could attend, but today there are many choices where a Native student can feel comfortable. The Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology (SIIT) provides a numbers of courses, from social work to information technology. SIIT is a great place to learn, with programs and schools located across the province, making it more accessible for students to take post secondary programs in their own communities.

The Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC) is another institution that has partnered up with many universities to provide Native students the opportunity to enroll in programs relating to Native issues. A good example of what the SIFC offers is the Indian Communications and Arts Program, a pre-journalism school run out of Regina that teaches students about the history of Native media, and prepares them for a job in the communications industry. The program, headed by Shannon Avison, teaches journalism from a Native perspective, which makes students more aware of Native issues that should be dealt with in the media.

However, with all the opportunities available, Native youth still need to understand there is much more work to be done to create change. Leaders have a large responsibility for the youth, but youth also have a responsibility for themselves, and their peers.

On the downside, there are still many social poblems for Native youth, such as unemployment rates, drop out rates, and crime rates. These problems are stopping many Native youth from taking advantage of these opportunities for education, employment, and entrepreneurship.

In order to move forward, Native youth need to understand their background, and see how each generation in the past has been productively involved in society during their times, and how each generation has used such opportunities for their success. Native youth today are going through a phase where the old are making way for the new, and the new are preparing for the revolution of Native people. A new decade is here, and only time will tell how the next 10 years will change us, just like the way the last 10 years have shaped us.