New Live Music Venue!

Over this last summer, the Community Arts Council of Prince George and District and Trinity United Church have been working together to transform Trinity Downtown (formerly Knox United Church) into a venue for live music and events.

Trinity Downtown has a historical role in building the community of Prince George, and it will continue with that role with these new developments. Being the oldest Protestant Church is Prince George, its got some big shoes to fill! Trinity United has already started making changes to increase engagement, stage space, and sight-lines, but it has more ambitious plans to expand further.

“The need for a mid-sized music and event venue located in the downtown core was strongly identified during the early planning stages for our new Creative Hub”, says Sean Farrell, CAC Executive Director. “And with the pressing need for new arts spaces being continuously and vocally expressed, especially in the last six months, we believe that we are offering a unique partnership and opportunity to revitalize a much beloved heritage space into a first-class venue that can serve a wide range of emerging and professional performers.”

They are also planning to integrate recording, green screen production, and live-streaming into the services they already offer. Providing infrastructure to support art and performance groups, and to allow them to connect with their audience is a top priority.

“Trinity United Church has a long history of engaging the community in ways that reach beyond Sunday morning,” says Rev. Dr. Bob K Fillier. “The arts have always been part of who we are and a cornerstone for a vibrant and healthy community. We are so excited by the opportunities that will come with a potential partnership with the CAC to turn our downtown campus into a vibrant new cultural space that will help us live out our core values and serve the community for years to come and sustain the legacy of the Knox site as being a centerpiece of downtown life.”

Stay tuned for the planned site tour and meeting with PG’s performing arts community members coming sometime this October.

For further information, contact:

Sean Farrell executive@studio2880.com 778-890-1439
Rev. Bob Fillier, revbob@trinitypg.ca 250-301-9658

Due North: Indigenous Healing Through Education

By Courtney Hayhurst

Around the world, and in North America in particular, Indigenous rights, needs, and voices are being heard louder and stronger than ever before. In Prince George this has been noticed happening in many aspects of the community, but most recently Prince George has been making strides within the school district. Not only has the education curriculum expanded to include more local Indigenous topics, but the past few months has seen incredible conversations between members of Lheidli T’enneh, Mcleod Lake Indian Band, and SD57.

Lheidli T’enneh members and the Dayi (Chief) started conversations with SD57 to propose that a seat on the school board be reserved for local members of the Lheidli T’enneh. September of this year, 2020, saw this proposal expanded with support of Mcleod Lake Indian Band, which resulted in the proposal of two new additional seats within the school board to be reserved for their representatives. These discussions have led to full, unanimous support from every current board member approving of these changes. Now, all that waits is receiving approval from the Provincial government.

In an interview, Lheidli T’enneh Dayi, Clayton Pountney, offers his perspective on the importance of education in Indigenous communities, and what this might mean for Prince George, the Province, and Indigenous people. Dayi Pountney remarks not just on the importance of inclusive education for indigenous youth, but also about the importance of building communities and working together.

Beverly Best, Manager of Aboriginal Student Engagement at UNBC and member of Stellat’en First Nation, also offers her perspective on issues of education and inclusion in a separate interview. Beverly talks about how this request is not just about education, and that it is also about inclusion; inclusion of indigenous history, people, and culture, and making room for indigenous needs and voices to be heard, and valued, as equal to all others.

In education, Indigenous perspectives, history, and teachings have been excluded for many years through racist laws, bills, and residential schools. In the article “Characteristics of Indigenous Healing Strategies in Canada” published in 2019 in the JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, author Ziwa Yu states that Indigenous people have had their teachings, cultures, and languages attacked by these racist institutions and societal structures, which left many “... with a confused cultural identity that is compounded with shame, self-hatred and powerlessness”. According to the article “Beyond Recovery: Colonization, Health and Healing for Indigenous People in Canada” published in2009 in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, authors Lavalee and Poole argue that the colonial practices that have (and still do) occur in Canada such as the 60’s scoop, child welfare, and land reclamations “...contribute to denigration of identity, cultural genocide, grief, anger, hopelessness and helplessness. All of these factors are linked to suicide, mental health and recovery”.

Research has been produced by academics to try to understand what impacts these colonial practices from the past have on Indigenous people now. From these studies, it has been found “...that being Native meant you are somehow less than and do not deserve good things” (Lavallee and Poole), and that those who fully identify as Indigenous often feel as if they “...do not fit societies’ stereotypical view of what an Indian looks like” (Lavalee and Poole), which serves to further degrade their identities.

Healing from these traumas is difficult, not just for an individual, but at an institutional level as well. Academics argue that “In order for healing to occur, Indigenous peoples need to be involved in retelling the colonial history and acknowledging the impact of historical trauma” (Yu), but in order for this to occur, there must be participation and buy-in from municipal, provincial, and federal bodies. These organizations need to acknowledge and validate the “... Indigenous cultural activities characterized by an ongoing connection to the past, based on specific beliefs, values and practices that go back to the time prior to European contact” (Yu), while still taking into consideration that “... the pathway to healing is inherently variable and highly relevant to personal agency and individual readiness” (Yu).

Indigenous healing is a broad, complex, and difficult topic to tackle. Not only are there difficulties in personal healing journeys regarding mental health and identity, but institutions and entire communities also have to combat how to support each individual journey to healing as well. In Prince George, part of the way the community has facilitated these difficulties is by building connections between communities and bringing Indigenous voices and perspectives into positions of power. An example of this is the potential addition of Indigenous seats to the SD57 school board.

For both Dayi Pountney and Beverly Best, education is not only important to the indigenous members in the community. In their opinions, building these connections, including indigenous members, voices, stories, and teachings into education and its governing body helps to build a more inclusive, holistic, and knowledgeable community. Including local Indigenous perspectives into a position on the school board allows for struggles surrounding identity to start being healed through the sharing of their histories and perspectives to all members of the community.

Listen to the interviews with DayiClayton Pountney and Beverly Best below to learn more about what it means to be represented and included in the community.

Bibliography:

Lavallee, Lynn F and Jennifer Poole. “Beyond Recovery: Colonization, Health and Healing for Indigenous People in Canada”. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, vol. 8, no. 2, 2009, pp. 271-281.

Yu, Ziwa. “Characteristics of Indigenous Healing Strategies in Canada”. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, vol. 17, no. 9, 2019, pp. 1933-1940.

Due North: Autism in Prince George

Image courtesy of Autism Canada (autismcanada.org)

By Courtney Hayhurst

When it comes to mental health, there are lots of misconceptions and pieces of misinformation out there. Of those that experience mental health challenges, those with autism are often amongst the most misunderstood. That autistic people are emotionless robots or that vaccines cause autism are just two examples of some of the deep misunderstandings that surround the autistic community. These misunderstandings can lead to discrimination and stigmatization, and contributes to the acceptance (or lack thereof) of the autistic community.

Acceptance of the autistic community in Canada, as well as around the world, is lacking. Accepting people with autism into social circles, incorporating their needs into events, or even accepting autistic people into the workplace is something society still struggles with. From a 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability, the general population held an employment rate of 92.7%. Comparatively, autistic adults held a 14.3% employment rate. This data exemplifies the amount of work Canadians still need to do regarding the acceptance of people with autism.

Along with a lack of acceptance also comes mental health impacts. Cage and Di in the 2018 article “Experiences of Autism Acceptance and Mental Health in Autistic Adults”, found that acceptance, either from external sources (i.e. family, friends and society) or internal sources (i.e personal perceptions of autism) greatly impacted the mental health of autistic adults. This study discovered that depression is greatly impacted and predicted by the level of acceptance from external sources. Families were found to “...have a large role in helping autistic individuals develop the skills needed to become successful adults in society” as said by Cage and Di. In addition to this, the study also found that social support received from family and friends were not  correlated with feelings of loneliness in autistic adults. The acceptance from external sources has been found to be a “...protective factor against depression”. Internal perceptions of acceptance also impacts symptoms of depression, and Cage and Di found that the greater acceptance a person has, the lower the symptoms of depression.

The above research offers some excellent insight into the well being of the autistic community, though it is focused mainly in London, England. Canadian data from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability offers a much more local dataset which actually still aligns closely to the findings of the European study mentioned above.

According to the 2017 survey, of the autistic population in Canada only 16% describe their health as good, or very good. This is directly contrasted to the 70% who describe their health as either good or very good, but are of the general population. This vast difference between the two communities shows that Canada is still lacking the necessary support systems and acceptance levels to maintain the good mental health of those in the autistic community.

Corey Walker, a Prince George and Northern BC autism advocate, is familiar with the struggles that the autistic community faces day to day. In addition to being an advocate, Corey has also been personally diagnosed with aspergers, and through both his personal and professional journeys he has incredible personal experiences fighting for acceptance in Canada. In the interview below, Corey discusses stigma, autism, and how communities can come together to become more accepting.

In Prince George, one organization in particular has dedicated a part of their mission to building an inclusive space for the community. In the past few years Theatre North West has successfully incorporated “Relaxed Performances”, which are dedicated to those with disabilities, sensory processing disorders, and even to parents with small children. Marnie Hamagami, Executive Director of Theatre North West, helped to build this program, and in the interview below discusses why creating inclusive spaces matters, and what they mean to the community as a whole.

Works Cited:

Cage, Edith and Jessica Di. “Experiences of Autism Acceptance and Mental Health in Autistic Adults”. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 48, no. 2, 2018.