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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The North needs stronger sex education that targets youth, say the organizers behind a new sexual education campaign.

Erin Selleck-Chocolate, an assistant facilitator for Sex Ed North, wears a trucker hat designed as part of the Sex Ed North campaign. - photo courtesy of Lee Selleck

Sex Ed North aims to determine exactly what youth are learning about sex and where that information comes from, said Dr. Lisa Dawn Hamilton, an assistant psychology professor at New Brunswick's Mount Allison University.

"Knowing where they're getting it can help us target how to improve it," she said.

Hamilton and collaborator, Dr. Vanessa Oliver, an assistant professor of sociology at the university. plan to co-ordinate focus groups in Yellowknife and Behchoko this week to identify gaps in sexual health knowledge. Three youth have volunteered to help facilitate the focus groups.

One of them is assistant facilitator Erin Selleck-Chocolate. She said as a young person, she is well aware of what youth are learning about sexual health.

"I'm 21 years old, so I am a youth on the fringe of being an adult myself," she said. "I know what kind of sex education is out there."

Youth often get their first lessons in sexual health in school, which Selleck-Chocolate said is inadequate.

"I don't think I learned much in the schools, which is basically where all that information came from," she said.

Selleck-Chocolate said lessons need to include developing a healthy attitude toward sex.

"I guess also the message on sex education that I want to focus on is respecting it and getting information that reflects respecting that part of yourself and your sexual life," she said.

While typical information focuses on the dangers of sexual activity, Selleck-Chocolate said she would like to see a Northern-specific education plan that highlights respect.

"It doesn't emphasize respecting yourself or your partner or respecting your own needs and wants," she said. "It makes it seem like sex is bad and I don't think that helps."

Hamilton, who spent summers in Yellowknife, holds a PhD in human sexuality and psychology.

"The Northwest Territories has the highest rates of STIs in Canada, so we thought that would be a good place to start," she said.

The focus groups are scheduled to take about an hour and will try to identify inadequacies in health education, as well as identifying where participants are learning about sex. Health-care providers and community leaders will also be consulted to create a "youth-initiated and community based research approach," Hamilton said.

"We want the youth in the communities to be the guiding force in the progression of the project," she said.

The next step will be to possibly create youth advisory committees, members of which could go on to facilitate more focus groups in other communities.

Eventually, Hamilton said the goal is to create sexual education DVDs and websites developed by youth for a youth audience.

Selleck-Chocolate said she believes multimedia is a great way to get the message out there.

"The more youth that are talking about it, the more it will get around," she said.

Though numbers of certain STIs have decreased, the territory still has the second-highest rate of gonorrhea in Canada, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The NWT, Nunavut and Yukon also have the highest rates of chlamydia.

Hamilton said there are some difficulties when it comes to delivering sex education in the North. Youth in smaller communities, in particular, often get information primarily from teachers at school, which might not be the most effective way to deliver the information.

"Another part is formal sex education comes from teachers and those teachers are sometimes not comfortable with sex education," she said. "In general, a lot of sex education comes from adults."

Selleck-Chocolate said that's why change in attitudes is so important.

"We talk a lot about prevention, but we don't talk about respecting your body," she said

Hamilton and Oliver received a planning grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the project. The Community Action Research Team in Behchoko is also helping to co-ordinate the focus groups, which will be held in Behchoko on Aug. 23 and 24. Groups will take place in Yellowknife Aug. 21, 22 and 24.

For more information, visit the Sex Ed North Facebook page or email sexednorth@gmail.com.

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