Grant: Project Grant

Many Indigenous youth are the descendants of generations of people devastated by the unresolved trauma resulting from the residential school system (RSS) in Canada. Further, existing school curricula and health resources are Western focused and do not include Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Colonization and Western understandings have skewed sexual health education, resulting in Indigenous youth being disproportionately represented in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infection (STBBI) diagnoses. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop culturally rooted approaches to promote sexual health and overall wellness among Indigenous youth. Our primary purpose is to co-create a community-led culturally rooted program, including a sexual health curricula and resources, that promotes sexual health, gender-re-awakening, self-confidence and wholistic wellness among Indigenous youth in Saskatchewan. Etuaptmumk (Two-eyed Seeing) will be applied to braid Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing about sexuality, gender roles and responsibilities with Western knowledge of HIV/HCV/STBBIs. A Community Guiding Circle composed of Indigenous Elders, youth, teachers and those with lived experience will guide the project, which will unfold in 3 phases: (I) knowledge gathering of gaps in curriculum and resources, alongside stories of those with lived experience; (II) development of a culturally rooted arts and land-based sexual health and wellness promoting programming and corresponding family resources for grades 6 through 9; and (III) delivery and evaluation of programming among 12 schools (4 urban and 8 rural on reserve) serving primarily Indigenous youth. This project will support the development of a culturally safe and inclusive program that works with multi-generational groups to interweave Indigenous and Western teachings of sexuality, sexual health and wholistic wellness.