Retreats bring youth back to their roots

Empowering at-risk youth through traditional teachings, music and sharing circles ensured the successful outcome of the ninth annual Aboriginal Youth Leadership Retreats, according to organizer, Raul Munoz of the Indigenous Peoples Program at the University of Saskatchewan.
"It was an opportunity for kids to come in there to listen," Munoz said. "It gave them basically a way of thinking about these issues that came from a non-academic, non-textbook way."
The two retreats were an initiative the Indigenous Peoples Program.
Organizers arranged to have two gender groups ­ Napewak(Men) and Iskwewak(Women) - gather for separate three-day programs at the Ancient Spiral Retreat Centre, which is twenty minutes out of Saskatoon.
Munoz said initial consultations with Elders led to the decision to separate genders.
"It made it more comfortable for the girls to be around girls and the guys to be around other guys," he said. "And a lot of the issues that we do touch upon are gender specific, so (youth) would probably be hesitant to open up if we were to make it into the co-ed thing."
The first retreat took place in late January with topics specific to the thirteen female youth participants. The second retreat was in February from 6 to 8 and focussed on topics geared to the seventeen male participants.
The three-day program trained youth in areas such as confidence building, public speaking, traditional knowledge, and community building.
Organizers strived to include workshops that fit into the four areas of the Medicine Wheel in an effort to help youth achieve balance in the physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional areas of self, Munoz said.
"A lot of them were coming from situations where issues of suicide, issues of depression and being marginalized are something they have to cope with everyday," Munoz explained. Therefore, it was highly effective to have Elders Judy Bear and Sid Fiddler on hand to give spiritual guidance, as well as to facilitate the sharing circles, he added.
Some of the objectives of the retreats were to help divert youth from at-risk activities to healthier lifestyle choices, reconnect them to traditional Aboriginal teachings, and give them a sounding board to voice some of their concerns.
According to Munoz the main goal was to get youth participating.
"I think a lot of the youth gravitated towards putting a lot into it at every session and they did open up quite a bit after the first day, so it was very encouraging," he said. Workshops ranged from healing through the arts to treaties, language, identity, self-image, and drug awareness.
Lindsey Knight, otherwise known as Eekwol, used hip hop in her workshop as a medium to get her message across to the female youth.
"She talked a little about her life, how she grew up, and some of her trials and tribulations as an Aboriginal woman," Munoz said. "How she learned to hip hop and continues to (use it) as a method of healing."
One workshop for the young men was facilitated by Joe Naytowhow, who used drumming and storytelling to get his message across to the youth. "A lot of the work he does is through the drum and finding your vocals with the drum," Munoz said.
"Youth learned that music plays a very important part in terms of healing. They got the message of finding their voice, that sometimes things are so repressed in society that when you sing you're letting all that go," he added.
Youth at this year's retreats came from the Battleford area, mainly from the Moosomin and Saulteaux First Nations. Facilitators conducting the workshops were Aboriginal role models, University of Saskatchewan graduates, current students, and youth mentors.
Munoz said the annual retreats benefitted youth from an educational, cultural, and linguistic point of view.
"It brings them back to their roots."
"We get to provide the youth with a blueprint for how to not necessarily manage their lives, but give them a sense of who they are and where they come from."