The many youth in the Engaging Young Leaders program don’t want to see another missing or murdered indigenous woman or girl. They want to do something to help protect people and get the word out about the problem and ways women can protect themselves. They have just launched their new video project, called Our Voices, which outlines situations where women might go missing and ways they can protect themselves.
Amy Esquash was one of the students participating in the project, both appearing on film and talking at the launch. The process of creating the film has given her the feeling that it’s possible to make progress on the issue.
“It gives the feeling that more help is there and that something can be done about this problem.”
While the video was focused on missing and murdered indigenous women, Esquash believes that it’s something universal that affects everyone in a community, and that everyone should have the situational awareness to avoid being kidnapped or harmed.
“It can happen at any given moment, you have to be aware of surroundings.”
She also believes that it’s a problem that the entire province needs to cooperate on if it’s going to be solved.
“Everyone needs to work together, it’s not just indigenous women, it’s not just that community. It does affect everyone, because it’s people.”
Esquash believes getting young people involved in projects like this is key to spreading awareness.
“The young people, when they know more, they can be involved more, and it can be spread around more. It’s a lot easier when everyone knows the world, everyone knows what’s happening.”
The youth in the group were the leaders in the project. They were broken up into groups, who worked out the situations where they wanted to explore and how people might be putting themselves in danger, along with ways they could protect themselves.
“With us youth figuring out the situations, it’s reality,” said Esquash.
It’s an important project for Esquash, and she wants to get involved beyond the film they shot. She wants to stay part of the Engaging Young Leaders program and she feels that she can make a difference, and bring the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women to the forefront of the community.
“It’s not just in my community, it’s in everyone’s community. We are on Treaty 4 land, and I can’t tell you how many women are missing right now, but I can tell you it’s a big number. For me to be involved with it, I feel that if I’m not doing anything, I feel powerless, and this problem isn’t going to get fixed. If I’m involving myself in one way, maybe that’s a little step closer in what we’re trying to do.”
The Engaging Young Leaders program is a partnership between the STOPS to Violence, the Yorkton Tribal Council and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Yorkton and Area. It includes students from across the area.
The short film itself can be watched on the Yorkton Tribal Council's Facebook page.
