Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 01/01) - A couple of years ago, Dianna Beck was working to help youth feel comfortable talking about any issue in their communities. She knew that would be no easy task since many youth had said their voices were not being heard.

Dianna Beck: Sees youth taking charge in their communities, but says there is still work to be done.

When the Territorial Youth Association began -- Beck helped launch the association in 1999 -- more people started listening.

Today, Beck, 23, says she sees youth taking charge in their communities, but there is still work to be done.

Yellowknifelife: How did you get involved in this?

Dianna Beck: I went to the annual general meeting at Native Women's Centre and they were talking about youth issues and I wanted to see it continue from there. I volunteered

at the Native Women's Centre for four months and when a new executive director was hired, she gave me a paid position to develop a youth program -- to finish what was started at the meeting.

Yellowknifelife: What had started at the meeting?

DB: The Native Women's Centre passed a resolution to support youth to speak for themselves. Youth didn't feel they were being heard by the community. That's when we started the Territorial Youth Association and held the first territorial youth conference in November 1999.

Yellowknifelife: So, it was you who started the association?

DB: It was my dream to make it happen, but it couldn't only be my dream. It had to be other people's dream too. It started with me, but it will live beyond me. I guess that's kind of the true test of a youth program.

Yellowknifelife: What were the issues when you started?

DB: When we first started, it was racism, cultural education, and substance abuse prevention.

Yellowknifelife: How have these issues changed/been addressed?

DB: We have a better understanding of what racism is and are able to talk about it. We've partnered with schools on different cultural education programs, we put on a stop-racism campaign in Yellowknife.

Yellowknifelife: Tell me about the surveys you have done.

DB: We did the first survey in Yellowknife schools two years a go. It had no racial questions in it, but a lot of racial comments came back. It was a totally different response to what we thought we were going to get. We did it for information purposes. We weren't expecting the reaction we got. So, we started to try and work with schools on some of the issues that came out.

Yellowknifelife: How did the schools respond?

DB: We've had some supportive teachers, doing cultural education in classes, but not all. There's a bit of apprehension when it comes to aboriginal cultures. The impression is that we're trying to single out one culture and we're not. When we get surveys like this back, we realize there is a lack of understanding.

Yellowknifelife: About what?

DB: There's a lack of understanding about what affirmative action is. That came out in the survey.

Yellowknifelife: What do you mean?

DB: I remember one comment was that the government keeps hiring unqualified Indians. When we were doing the survey there were also racial comments that were said out loud during the class.

Kids don't understand what racism is. They get along with the aboriginal kids. They play with them, and they don't see colour when they are talking to their friends. But when it came to the questions, they seemed to be reiterating what someone else has told them.

Yellowknifelife: Where else do you think this misunderstanding comes from?

DB: I think it comes from not talking about it. In high school, trying to have a Northern studies class was a big fight. In our Northern studies class, we watched Dances with Wolves four times in a row -- it's an American movie.

When I went to school you'd be kicked out of class if you talked about aboriginal issues.

Yellowknifelife: Did you get kicked out of class a lot?

DB: No, I wasn't quite as vocal when I was in school. When I graduated, that's when I stopped being quiet.

Yellowknifelife: What about the second survey?

DB: From there, we took it to all the communities of the North. That's what we're doing now. At the same time, we're looking at youth not in schools, talking to different youth groups, talking to young offenders.

Yellowknifelife: What did the questions include?

DB: We asked them what they would improve about their community. We wanted to find out what youth are doing after school, if they have curfews, if they are working, if they want to work, what are heir goals for their community. It had a really broad base. There were some questions about culture, tradition and racism.

Yellowknifelife: What are you hoping to do with the information when you get it?

DB: We want to form community action plans. We want to set goals that youth can obtain. Recreational equipment, for example, is it adequate in the communities?

Yellowknifelife: Boredom, is that a problem?

DB: Either that, or some people go in and say, this is what you need so you'll never be bored again, but it's not what they actually want.

I went to Gameti for an excellent youth conference for youth eight to 12 years old. There were a lot of issues of rape that came out. But when they had the opportunity to ask for things, they asked for things that were so easy to give. They asked for a video library where they could take out cartoons. The community is on a satellite system, and they were getting a lot of adult videos. They said every time they turned on the television that's what came up.

Yellowknifelife: Wow, that's crazy.

DB: The kids in the community were very honest. Kids who were referencing sexual abuse issues were the same kids who were asking for movie nights. They wanted a place to get out of the house; a place to just be a kid. You hear that a lot in the communities.

Yellowknifelife: What would make you happy?

DB: What would make me happy is to see youth be able to speak out about anything that is happening in their community. I'd like to see community leaders looking at youth in their own communities and giving them the respect they deserve. It's going to take a lot because, often, they have to look beyond their mistakes.

Yellowknifelife: Beyond the mistakes of youth or leaders?

DB: Beyond the mistakes of either.

Yellowknifelife: Do you see positive things happening?

DB: Oh yeah. I see youth really taking charge in communities. We had one youth who is on her band council. I'm really happy and proud of all the youth who are on the board. They are role models in the community. They are doing something.

Yellowknifelife: It's a pretty big accomplishment to have started something like this.

DB: I think so. But it's not only my accomplishment. I didn't do it on my own. The youth had to want it, had to make it their own. That's what happened.