For the young First Nations women who need hope for a future free of violence...
The Sisters Speak Campaign will inspire, empower and celebrate the power of women to live and love in a way that honours their ancestors, and brings them joy.
This project will share knowledge around dangers and build skills to stay safe.
Sisters Speak is a project to share knowledge with young First Nations women and girls who are at risk of being exploited in Vancouver’s Eastside and school systems. Our priority is to reach girls 11-15, before they are potentially targeted for recruitment into the sex trade, and to encourage and empower all youth, males and females to treat each other with respect and to speak out against racism and abuse.
SISTERS SPEAK DIGITAL STORYTELLING CAMPAIGN: PHASE 1 LAUNCHES MAY 31, 2015!
Stories are a powerful way to build understanding.
Through video interviews, which tell personal stories about the dangers young women face, and through interviews and images of male and female role models, as well as through the voices of youth who speak to their peers about the pressures they face — we will create online teaching materials – short themed digital stories — around this issue.
In this first phase five people shared their stories, and we have created a series of five banners and postcards, a video and this website, that can be used as part of an educational workshop or public awareness event.
Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre is partnering with Hello Cool World Media to create this educational campaign. Our hope is to add and expand these stories to continue to do this important work. Help us grow this project to reach out to schools all over Vancouver!
BACKGROUND
We are living at a time when there are almost 2,000 missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada, and where a disproportionate number of the women who face street violence, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, violence, abduction and death are First Nations women. We know that young indigenous women are targeted in Vancouver schools, and many end up on the streets of the Downtown Eastside. This must stop.
We are also living in a time where the media is finally taking notice of the issue of violence against women and an open conversation is happening that has never happened before. Now is the time to break the silence and empower women and girls, as well as to educate and support men and boys as allies in this mission.
MISSION
To build a culture of understanding, which empowers those who may be at risk of sexual exploitation, and protect them from violence. We also want to engage with men and boys, parents and community to encourage bystanders to take action to prevent exploitation from happening when they recognize the signs that someone is potentially in danger.
Our Primary Objective is To educate and inform young First Nations women and girls in Vancouver’s East side on how to stay safe and reduce likelihood of sexual exploitation.
Other Goals Include
- Foster positive relationships of young First Nations women and girls with their communities
- Increase Public Awareness
- Build opportunities for parents and youth to come together
- Connect youth with positive role models
- Build a sense of pride in First Nations Traditions
- Profile positive activism around this issue
- Showcase advocacy and educational work that is being done
CAMPAIGN CREDITS
This project is a collaboration between the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre (VACPC) and Hello Cool World Media.
Funding by the Ministry of Justice and the Province of BC as well as in-kind contributions from Hello Cool World.
Project Participants
Lillian Howard – Interim Executive Director VACPC
Lorelei Williams - Coordinator of Healing and Support Programs, VACPC & Founder of Butterfles in Spirit
Madelaine McCallum - Dancer, Choreographer, Actor, Motivational Speaker
Nathaniel Arcand - Actor
Caprice Lecoy - High school student
Hello Cool World Media Team
Creative Director Katherine Dodds
Photography by Nancy Bleck, Slánay Sp’ákw’us
Graphic Design by Terry Sunderland
Website designed by Sandy Haksi, powered by Amani
Videography, Direction & Editing Katherine Dodds
Transcription & Copy Editing Sandy Haksi
Photographer’s Assistant Christopher Tait (Gitxan Nation)
Production Assistance Lauren Kelly
Editing assistance Bella Sie & David Ng
Royalty Music music from Bensound.com (Creative Commons License Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0)
Special Thanks to
Everyone who shared their stories
Butterflies In Spirit
Support groups at the VACPC
And all those helped us with the shoots, lent us gear, gave us advice, or helped solve problems in the edit..
Bella Sie
Zack Embree
Sean Lang
Melissa James
Andrej at Storybubble