Scrolling through social media, you may come across videos featuring northern youth explaining gender-based violence or the harm of gender stereotypes.
At a workshop put on by Foxy/Smash in Yellowknife last week, youth from across the NWT and Nunavut learned about gender-based violence and worked on social media videos to share that knowledge with others.
The aim of the project is to reduce both the stigma around the issue and its prevalence in northern communities.
“It’s a really good thing that we’re using social media because nowadays there’s a lot of people that are on social media,” Rick Aningaat, a participant from Baker Lake, told Cabin Radio.
“I feel like it’s a faster way to spread information, especially for those that are far away in isolated communities.”
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Aningaat said he looked forward to sharing what he learned with his community.
It is important for youth to learn about gender-based violence, he said, for them to deal with it and pass on that knowledge to the next generation.
Over the three-day workshop, 18 youth learned about and discussed gender-based violence, its root causes and how to address it.
Several youth told Cabin Radio they were surprised to learn how prevalent the issue is in the North.
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“I think people don’t realize how much violence there actually is,” said Desmond Mackay, a peer facilitator with Foxy/Smash, a non-profit peer leadership organization that educates northern youth about sexual and mental health and relationships.
Mackay said his group was planning to make a video that flipped the script on stereotypical gender roles, featuring a stay-at-home husband and blue-collar wife.
According to a 2023 report from the NWT Bureau of Statistics, the territory has the second highest rate of intimate partner violence in Canada behind Nunavut.
In response to a 2019 community survey, 24 percent of households across the territory listed violence against women and children as the most important issue NWT women are facing.
“I think there’s not a ton of conversation about what gender-based violence is,” said Lana Sanders, a facilitator with Foxy/Smash.
“We’re hoping that with these videos, and with teaching these participants what gender-based violence is and everything that has to do with it … we can better breach the conversation, especially in the Northwest Territories, where intimate partner violence is at an all-time high in Canada.”
Sanders said youth at the workshop were receptive to what they learned.
“It’s really encouraging to see people learn about everything that we’re teaching them, and the statistics of gender-based violence in the NWT and Nunavut, and how prevalent it really is – despite how little we actually talk about it.”
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Billy Goose, a participant from Ulukhaktok, said his group’s video was focused on dealing with stressors using the visual of different-sized styrofoam balls in a jar. He said the smaller balls represented minor stressors while the larger balls represented things that “stress us out a lot.”
“I feel like in this day and age, a lot more youth are into TikTok and a lot more people are using TikTok, so that can bring a lot more awareness to gender-based violence,” Goose said of the social media project.
Riley Rose Bonnetrouge said she learned about boundaries, not judging people and self-regulation.
Cheyenne Malgokak, a member of the same group as Bonnetrouge, said their video would address the topic of coping with mental health and regulation.
“I think it’s a pretty good idea because everyone’s so linked to their phones and everybody is connected through their phones, too,” she said.
The videos are expected to be shared across Foxy/Smash’s social media platforms.
Sanders said some of the programming will move into Foxy/Smash retreats, which are held three times a year. Sanders said applications for the retreats will open soon.
