We Matter campaign bringing positive messages to Saskatchewan

The messages are delivered by video over the Internet, from the likes of A Tribe Called Red, Justin Trudeau and Don Burnstick, to name a few.

“I feel like anybody who’s gone through depression, or who has even had suicidal thoughts or who has battled addiction… to know you’re not alone, to know there are others who truly feel how you have felt can give a little bit of perspective,” Kelvin said.

He said firsthand, he and Tunchai have seen what kind of change positivity can bring to a community. Before the campaign officially launched, the students of Attawapiskat emotionally responded to the videos.

“You could see it was speaking right to the heart of what they’ve been through,” Kelvin said.

The duo is drawing on its own experiences as Indigenous peoples for the campaign. Kelvin said both he and his sister grew up in the Northwest Territories. He said when he was growing up it was tough to turn on the television and see how Indigenous peoples are represented in the media.

“You wouldn’t see yourself reflected; we think it’s important to have a place where young people can go to and see a reflection of themselves,” Kelvin said.

We Matter is a new organization, however, it has caught on quickly at a national level.

“The campaign only launched four months ago, so it’s relatively new,” Kelvin said. “It was really successful quite quickly. Within the first month of launching the campaign reached over a million people.”

Kelvin said the video views have also reached into the millions. When he’s feeling down, he said he will head over to the page for some positivity.

“We want to make sure our websites and social media sites are entirely positive spaces they can always go to no matter what is going on in their lives,” he said. “If it’s two in the morning, and you just need a bit of uplift, the We Matter website is a place you can go to.”

The brother and sister team have been working their way through stops in northern Alberta before they cross the border into Saskatchewan.

Kelvin said there will be eight days of workshops, four in Stanley Mission and four in La Ronge.

“In Saskatchewan, we’re doing our workshops in the schools,” Tunchai said. “We’ll be meeting with students from Grade 6 all the way to 12.”

Kelvin said the pair will be hosting community meetings as well, where both parents and children can attend to get an idea of what the presentations will be about.

Tunchai said the most important part of the project is having a space specifically for Indigenous strength. She said when she was younger, she wished she had a platform like this to see positive representation of Indigenous peoples.

“This is a space that focuses on the positivity and strength of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and I think that’s extremely valuable and powerful… to have a place they can go to see themselves represented in a positive way,” Tunchai said. “We go into communities and we meet with young people who are so blown away to see people like them in our videos.”

Sask. Workshops will feature a pilot program

Because some of the communities We Matter have visited have poor internet connection, Kelvin and Tunchai will be delivering USB sticks to the communities they visit.

“We’ll be gifting these USB sticks to every young person between the ages of 10 and 18, as well as delivering lesson plans to the teachers,” Tunchai said.

She explained the USB sticks will contain every uploaded video on the We Matter website. The lesson plans will provide ways for teachers to teach the messages in the videos.

“We’re hoping to expand the pilot project into other communities that don’t have strong internet connections and have trouble accessing our videos online,” Tunchai said. “We want our message to be accessible to all communities.”

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas

by Bryan Eneas

We Matter campaign bringing positive messages to Saskatchewan

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