Youth lead the way in KI event

After five months of planning, a week of sleepless nights, and five days of fun and making connections, four Kitchenumaykoostib Inninuwug (KI) youth pulled off what many people doubted they could do.
Karyn Paishk, Justin Beardy, Leona Matthews and Faith McKay are the core group of youth that organized an event they say has never been done before: inviting average Canadians to spend five days in an isolated reserve to experience life in a First Nations community. The goal was to bridge the cultural gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and dispel negative stereotypes.
They put out the word and Canadians responded. Forty-three people flew to KI and stayed with local families from June 17-21.
“I couldn’t believe that many people wanted to come,” McKay, 24, said. “It goes to show how many people are interested to know our people, the culture, the land, just to make friends and build bridges.”
The event came after the youth began planning in January.
Three of the youth cite the Idle No More movement and Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike as an inspiration for pushing themselves to incite change.
Beardy and Paishk helped to organize a prayer walk in their community last December, and Paishk joined other community members the following month when they walked from Toronto to Ottawa in support of the movement and Spence.
McKay and Matthews joined the group after Beardy and Paishk had already been making plans for the event. Both were impressed not only by the scale of the event but also the meaning behind it.
Matthews, 28, said when she travels south, people are often unaware that there are people living in the far north.
“They just don’t get it and it would be good to let them see for themselves” she said.
The group had an original goal of inviting 50 Canadians, but after an organization in southern Ontario said having that goal was unrealistic given the timeline – and to relieve pressure on themselves – the youth reduced it to 25.
“After we told people about 25, and we started getting more and more e-mails and the interest level went high,” Paishk said.
By having 43 people come into the community, the organizers nearly reached their initial goal. They would have achieved it had there been enough room on the chartered plane.
“I wish we could’ve told everyone they could come, but 43 is amazing,’ McKay said.
The quartet – who jokingly refer to themselves as the Fantastic Four or the Wolf Pack – worked tirelessly in the weeks leading up the event. They recruited volunteers to cook and drive during the week.
McKay said they did not do it all on their own. There were other youth who helped but could not commit full-time due to other responsibilities like employment, sports and school.
“Whatever little bit, it helped,” she said. “Without all the other youth, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Organizing an event of this scale was not without its challenges.
The group kept quiet with their plans until it seemed like it would be feasible. They were also concerned about how the community would react.
Beardy, 28, said some community members were “angry” upon hearing of the plans.
“I think maybe they’re ashamed of the poverty around here,” he said. “But it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
There were also others who doubted it could be pulled off.
“There were people who said it’s impossible,” Matthews said. “They say, ‘they’re just youth,
they don’t do anything.’ But we worked really hard and got it done.”
She added with a laugh: “That’s how KI rolls.”
The youth were quick to say that yes, there were times leading up to the event when they thought it would never happen. But the Fantastic Four supported each other.
“We almost gave up but we always kept pushing each other,” Matthews said. “We were a great team.”
The event has incited change in all four of the youth. They all expressed similar sentiments about the event forcing them to break out of their comfort zone.
“The first day, when we came here to ground zero, I went around and opened up,” McKay said, adding that in the past, she would not have done so. “That was the greatest moment, just to make them feel welcome.”
With the event over, a question frequently posed to the youth is if they will do it again next year.
“That’s the funny thing, before this event started, somebody said there’s already people planning to come next year,” Paishk said. “It was supposed to be a one-time thing.”
But all four are open to doing it all again.
“For me, I haven’t really thought about it, just whatever the youth come up with, and I’m going to keep supporting them and helping,” Matthews said. “I’m game for whatever comes up next.”
With the event over, the youth plan to move onto other things in their own lives. McKay is studying to achieve her GED with plans to attend university to study journalism. Matthews recently accepted a new position at the local health centre to be the crisis coordinator.
Beardy, a former addict, plans on pushing the chief and council to bring in a Suboxone program to the community. And Paishk wants to attend university to study business and accounting.
McKay said she hopes the group and event inspires other youth in the community to pursue their own goals.
“The kids are the future leaders and they’re gonna need that confidence in us,” she said “And we need to be confident and give them peace of mind to show them that anything is possible. I never believed that until this event, and it is possible.”