Gang Awareness and Prevention project members (supplied photo/Laili Yazdani)

By Keaton Brown

Reaching out

Gang Awareness and Prevention Project material being released by Onion Lake RCMP

Jul 3, 2020 | 2:43 PM

Onion Lake RCMP are releasing Gang Awareness and Prevention (GAP) material in partnership with Onion Lake Cree Nation. These resources will include videos, posters, and an information booklet.

The GAP project is a collaborative effort that has been developed and implemented by an RCMP Community Program Officer, several community members including Chief and Council, Elders, youth, parents, service providers, and former gang members.

The project has been funded by the Government of Saskatchewan’s Rural Crime Innovation Fund and the resources were showcased at a community event last summer. The information booklets and posters produced by the program are available in five different languages including English, French, Cree, Michif, and Dene.

Clarence Whitstone, Elder and translator for the project, said that seeing the information in their packages in their own language can help in understanding their message.

“With our Elders’ guidance, the spirit of our language is so powerful, maybe just seeing it written that way in some way will get them to see [our message],” he said.

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Whitstone said it is important that communities realize gang members and those struggling with addictions are still members of their community and deserve their help.

“They are the creator’s children as well. We can’t just push them away and say ‘you are bad people, get off the reserve.'”

The GAP project also produced five videos, each with its own focus on a specific message for community members.

Delia Bull-Waskewitch, originally from Little Pine First Nation, shared her story with the GAP project about raising her children with a focus on heritage, community, and connection.

“I think there is a lot of selfishness now, whereas before everybody was connected. Even in our own families, like brothers and sisters,” she said. “I think connection is important, I really do, having that connection one on one with another person is important,” she added.

She said that it was heartwarming for her to see so many members of her community come together to work on a project like GAP for the betterment of everybody.

“It is the most beautiful thing. It is like heaven, if I can describe it like that,” she said.

Bull-Waskewitch is hopeful that the videos produced by the GAP project help open people’s minds to their message.

“I’m hoping that it will open minds in the minds of all people from our Elders to our young people,” she said. “If they see that video that something inside them, a light turns on and they will gear towards that,” she added.

A group of youth also completed a musical theatre workshop with Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon. They wrote, rehearsed, and performed their musical No More Hustling for their parents, high school, and community.

The Onion Lake RCMP have already released one of the videos on their Facebook and YouTube pages and will be gradually releasing the rest of the material.

These materials are also available upon request by contacting the Crime Prevention/Crime Reduction Unit.

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keaton.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow