From intergenerational trauma to resilience: Edmonton Chinese and Indigenous youth conference builds understanding
Two groups of youth gathered in Edmonton's Chinatown this weekend to help exchange ideas and share their cultures to build greater solidarity.
For the first time in-person, youth from the Enoch Cree Nation and the local Chinese community hosted a series of panels, discussions, and forums, all centred on anti-racism and resiliency.
"We wanted to come together to build understanding between our communities and really get to know each other and building that relationship between the youth and the elders," said Eric Au, Chinese Benevolent Association of Edmonton Youth Council chair.
On Saturday, both groups participated in cultural demonstrations with a powwow, drumming circle, martial arts, and Indigenous and Chinese dances.
The focus turned to anti-racism on Sunday, with discussions demonstrating how racism and intergenerational trauma have impacted Indigenous and Chinese communities in different and parallel ways. The event culminates on Monday with a youth action planning project to help both communities concretely move forward together.
"As we grow up and go through the school system, we get an introduction to Indigenous history and the issues that non-white people face, but really, the need to learn is not very satisfied," Au added.
Eric Au, Chinese Benevolent Association of Edmonton Youth Council chair, said the pair of youth groups hope to host more events like the cultural conference in the future (CTV News Edmonton/Jessica Robb).
Dreydon Thomas, Enoch Youth Advisory Council member, explained how the Indigenous reserve system and historical attitudes and policies surrounding Chinatowns across Canada share similarities.
"Chinatowns come out of segregation in Canada, and as new Chinese immigrants used to come here they were put in areas where white people did not want to be," Au said.
"Indigenous peoples, in general, we've been placed on reservations, but also Chinese people have placed, segregated or even pushed to building in Chinatown places. That's where our groups feel comfortable and feel more like a community for ourselves.
"It's important to recognize that these spaces that come out of racist policies and disadvantages to non-white communities also create a place where we can come together and celebrate our cultures."
The youth councils hope that having these "hard-hitting" and difficult conversations will pave the way forward for a better future.
"It can get scary at times," Thomas said. "Building these relationships kind of help us in being able to tackle even bigger decisions, questions, and bigger difficulties."
"It shows the level of maturity and level of support not only to us but to different levels of government that we are able to have these conversations."
Dreydon Thomas, Enoch Youth Advisory Council member, said while discussing anti-racism can be difficult at times, finding out about shared experiences builds trust and resiliency (CTV News Edmonton/Jessica Robb).
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Sixty-five people registered to attend the weekend conference, with proceedings open to respective community members and all Edmontonians.
"If we want long-lasting solutions and we want to connect with those people, it has to be together," Au said.
For Amanda Morin, Enoch Cree Nation councillor, this weekend's conference represents the start of something greater.
"Speaking as an Indigenous woman, we were taught from our history in residential schools and colonialism to not speak," she told CTV News Edmonton. "That spaces weren't safe.
"It's super important as an Indigenous woman, as a mom, as a grandma, as a daughter, a sister, a friend, to be able to create these spaces so that our youth can start breaking those cycles of intergenerational trauma and we now call it intergenerational resiliency, so we can overcome."
As she listened to the youth and elders tackle different issues and approaches to anti-racism, Morin said she was encouraged to see the youth gain more courage to speak and engage.
"It makes me really happy," Morin said. "If you create the space, a safe space, those difficult conversations are no longer difficult and you can find a lot of love and support there.
"As each of our generations come along, they're realizing how similar we all are as humans.
"Realizing that we are not alone in a lot of things we've gone through. Regardless of our race, we're all human and being able to connect and share gives us all hope."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
What happens after we die? Most Canadians say an afterlife does exist, survey shows
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.