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New game inspires pride amongst Indigenous youth

Mar 10, 2016 | 5:05 PM

“It’s ok to be indigenous.”

That was the message Janelle Pewapsonias tried to convey to the students of Sakewew High School.

Pewapsonias, from Little Pine First Nation northwest of the Battlefords, has developed a new card game called “Neeched Up” to educate people about indigenous culture.

“I feel like it is unacceptable to be proud of your culture,” Pewapsonias said. “I want young people to understand that I came from those places and I hope they feel proud and have a strong sense of identity as they go off into the world because if you forget that you won’t be as successful as you are in real life.”

She believes this is a problem in schools and it starts with the treaty education. Treaties have become a mandatory part of the curriculum in Saskatchewan schools. While, Pewapsonias was happy indigenous culture is taught, she believed some teachers may not understand the treaty well enough to properly teach it.

“I learned native studies from a book,” Pewapsonias said. “I never got to experience what the native studies were in real life unfortunately. So I think that is a problem when people are getting misinformation.”

Pewapsonias created her card and dice game to help combat First Nations stereotypes. With a mix of humour, history and trivia, players score points and, hopefully, walk away with a greater understanding of indigenous issues.

“I saw a need,” Pewapsonias said. “I’ve been developing it since then and it’s become into a life lesson type of work shop that I’ve been doing…eventually I hope to develop it so that people can buy these tools, like the card games, board games and apps.”

Pewapsonias has prototypes available and hoped to launch the first set of cards in October of this year with expansion packs to be released in December. The next step is to release the “Neeched Up” board game which she described as similar to the game of life but more hilarious and indigenous.

 

ghiggins@jpbg.ca

@realgreghiggins