Attawapiskat youth to get letters of hope from UPEI students
Lindsay Carroll | CBC News | Posted: April 22, 2016 10:00 AM | Last Updated: April 22, 2016
'All the students are sharing personal stories, talking about how they got through their struggles'
Students at the University of Prince Edward Island are being invited to write letters of hope and encouragement to the youth of Attawapiskat, after leaders in the northern Ontario First Nations community declared a state of emergency over numerous youth suicide attempts.
Message boxes have been set up across the campus, along with pens and paper, to make it easy for students to write a note and drop it into the secure box.
The idea came from a Facebook initiative, said organizer Jenna Burke with the UPEI Mawi'omi Centre for Mi'kmaq youth. The post is providing a post office box and suggested sending a letter or a gift to the youth.
"I shared it, and planned on doing it with the Mawi'omi Centre, but one of my friends with the student centre suggested we do it for the whole university," Burke said.
"I think it's really important to let them know that there are people that care about them. They've been going through crisis for a while, it seems like people forget about it after a little bit."
They've been going through crisis for a while, it seems like people forget about it after a little bit. - Jenna Burke
Back in 2013, Attawapiskat received lots of media attention when Chief Theresa Spence went on a six-week-long hunger strike in an effort to convince the country's top leaders to take First Nations concerns seriously.
Since that time, Burke said she feels not a lot has been done to help the community until recently.
The young people say they feel their struggles are not being acknowledged, and they are losing a sense of who they are.
Sharing personal stories
Burke has penned her own letter of encouragement, talking about personal struggles and how she overcame them by reaching out for support.
She said she knows of several other students who have done the same, including one student from Northern Labrador who has first hand experience counselling youth when three young people killed themselves in one week back in 2013, in the communities of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nain and Sheshatshiu.
"All the students are sharing personal stories, talking about how they got through their struggles," she said.
"I know that it's not just a meaningless 'you can do this, you can get through this' they're actually really wanting to help and wanting to show that they genuinely care through stories of how they got through it, and that it can be better, it's not always going to be like this."
All of the students have signed their names, something Burke hopes will create a lasting connection and communication through Facebook, if the Attawapiskat youth choose to respond.
Burke plans to collect letters from both Lennox Island and Abegweit First Nation as well.
The letter boxes will stay up at UPEI for another couple of weeks.