The Saskatoon/Treaty 6/Traditional Homeland of the Metis site works with young Indigenous women, members of the girl group Indigenous Young Women’s Utopia, to explore and navigate the colonial and gendered violent context that they survive and exist in. Empowered by each other and their Nehiwayan and Michif ways, these young women continue to explore self-love as a first form of resistance. Prayer and ceremony lead the sessions, they know that their ancestors prayed for them to be together to do this work. They continue to listen and learn from each other! Hiy hiy ekosi!

 

Rankin Inlet is an Inuit community located on the Kudlulik Peninsula, on the west coast of the Hudson Bay in Nunavut. This field site is the result of recognition in the community for the need to create a space where local Inuit girls and young women could come together and express themselves. The girls have experience engaging with participatory visual methods as they have produced music videos and cellphilms addressing GBV and food insecurity.

Eskasoni is located on Cape Bretton Island, within the Unama’gi district of Mi’kmaq territory (Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada). The community is the largest Aboriginal community in Atlantic Canada. Young people in the community have been engaging with the topic of sexual and gender-based violence, and what it looks like in Eskasoni since 2016, as a field site for Networks for change. Their work has taken many forms including the production of a Mi’kmaw colouring book for survivors of SGBV, which focused on addressing SGBV in the community and language revitalization.

 

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