Sharing Anti-Oppression and Anti-Racism Through Art and Culture
When we go into a community to teach, it’s never with the intention of just delivering information to a group of people. We enter with an intention of collaboration, with the purpose of growing stronger in our collective capacity.
Together, with the Youth Council of Family and Community Support Services in Fort Saskatchewan, we spent time diving into the fundamentals of anti-oppression and anti-racism. This work involved unpacking how both racism and oppression manifest in rural spaces, and how the line between what occurs in offline and online spaces becomes less clear as our technologies develop. The session invited young community leaders in Fort Saskatchewan to discuss how racism and oppression impacted not only them as individuals, but also how it impacts their community as a whole.
During our time together we also engaged in conversation around Bill C-63, or the Online Harms bill, that is moving through parliament. Young people rarely are given the opportunity to discuss legislation or learn about it, particularly when it directly impacts them. The Youth Council discussed the complexities of defining hate through policy and how policies like this impact different aspects of their lives.
You can learn more about our youth consultation with the Online Harms bill here.
Art and creativity are a cornerstone of the work JHC does with youth. In this case it meant seeing the Youth Council create art pieces individually, seeing how when their work came together they were all part of something larger than themselves.
The pieces reflected their learnings from our day together, and were later designed into a single, unified, piece by Ly Raine. Their reflection on the Turtle Shell Mosaic is below.
The session JHC delivered with the Youth Council is part of a larger project to increase rural youth engagement in anti-racism/oppression and create opportunities for them to interact with policy. Policy must take into consideration the needs of those it is trying to protect, and ensure that it does, it must reflect their lived experiences. The ultimate goal of this project is to prioritize prevention, inclusivity and accountability by ensuring the youth voices, especially in often forgotten rural spaces, are heard.
Turtle Shell Truth Mosaic
Ly Raine
I grew up listening to my community share oral stories and teachings. They talked about how the world used to be and we came to be where we are. I heard of the creation story that described flooding of the Earth. When this happened, Turtle carried the other beings upon its back so they would not drown. Since the time of creation, the Turtle has always been a symbol of protection and truth.
I was helping with the Rural Anti-Racism Training where we did an activity called the social identity wheel. It is a worksheet that you can use to note what you would identify yourself as. The point of the activity is to start the thought process of how one might identify themselves as. The worksheet itself is a wheel with sections on the outer edge of the circle and I was reminded of a turtle shell.
When I think about Anti-Racism education and process, I try to think of how to make sustainable change. Much like how Turtle has stayed true to itself throughout time immemorial, how do we stay true to ourselves and our truth during times of great change. And what truth can we live in that allows for all of us to survive and thrive. With those thoughts in mind, I envisioned a turtle shell with the truth as a mosaic on its back is the different individual commitments we make to each other.
Thank you to our funders, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and the Civil Society Foundation (CSF) for making this project possible.