Welcome Path video launched to help students’ transition

First Nation students moving to Thunder Bay for their education now have another tool to help them with their transition — the recently-launched Welcome Path video.
“We need more resources like this for our youth coming from First Nation communities,” said Julaine Trudeau, one of the actors in the video who originally moved from Muskrat Dam to attend high school in Thunder Bay. “I know how difficult it is and how much more support needs to be out there for youth who are making that transition.”
Although Trudeau’s father and brother moved down to Thunder Bay with her when she attended high school, she said it was still a difficult transition.
“The culture shock was really huge,” Trudeau said. “I think I adapted really well, but a lot of youth still have a really challenging time. So I’m trying to do my part in making that transition a little bit easier.”
Trudeau had difficulties with the Thunder Bay transit system and with how outgoing people were in Thunder Bay.
“Where I come from, I was really reserved and I had a hard time looking people in the eye,” Trudeau said. “And paved roads and walking on the sidewalk was huge, because we don’t have paved roads in Muskrat.”
Launched by the Thunder Bay Suicide Prevention Task Force (TBSPTF) on Sept. 10 at the Thunder Bay Indian Friendship Centre, the Welcome Path video was developed to alleviate the stress and anxiety many students experience when moving to Thunder Bay to continue their education journeys.
“In my job as the Wasa-Nabin Aboriginal youth worker, I’d like to try to take them off the beaten path of the Intercity Mall, their high school and show them different parts of the city,” said Anthony Shapwaykeesic, chair of TBSPTF’s Youth Education and Engagement committee, noting locations around Thunder Bay such as the Centennial Botanical Conservatory, Mission March or Mount McKay. “They need that quiet time, especially one-on-one, for anyone to say how they are actually feeling.”
Trudeau and the other Aboriginal actors also helped with the writing and directing of the video, which took about a month to complete.
“I liked the way the students were able to engage and take it in a direction all by themselves,” Shapwaykeesic said. “I think they got their message across — it was by them and we were just the people behind the scenes.”
Whitney Edwards, one of the actors originally from Fort Albany, hopes the video will encourage more Aboriginal students to pursue their education goals in Thunder Bay.
“Instead of not attending school and being a dropout, we want them to do good and finish high school,” Edwards said.
The video project was developed with information gathered from surveys, youth workshops and conversations with both First Nation adults and youth about their experiences when moving to Thunder Bay.
“We’re hoping to show people from the north that there is a community here that they can get engaged in,” said Lisa Smith, coordinator of TBYSTF, “that they’re welcome to be a part of and that people are here to be supportive of them.”