Kamloops woman teaches modelling to help keep Indigenous women safe

When Tanya Pellett walks down the street, she makes sure to walk tall and make eye contact with the people she passes.

But theTk'emlups te Secwepemc band member didn't always do that.

"I would always look down," she said. "I felt like I was always vunerable." 

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Pellett made the change after taking a training course offered by Fashion Speaks International. The Kamloops-based agency was founded by Kim Coltman. She's hoping to use fashion to help raise awareness about the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women. 

Coltman is teaching women, especially Indigenous women, how changing the way you walk can change the way people perceive you.

'Keep some of them safe'

Coltman says she gets her models to walk down the street — first the way they normally would and then a second time where they walk like a model.

"They've all noticed that everybody's looking at them then," she said.

"My thought on that is that maybe if everybody's looking at them then it's going to make it a lot harder for the predators to separate them from the crowd and take them."

Feel less vulnerable 

Pellett was unsure, at first, if changing her walk would help, but it made an almost immediate difference.

"I noticed a lot more people were respecting me," she said. "I still feel a little vulnerable, but not like I used to."

That's what Coltman has been aiming for in her training.

"I'm trying to instill self-confidence, self-worth and self-awareness as well as awareness of everything that's around you," she said.

"Hopefully that will keep some of them safe."

Coltman will be raising money and awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women with a fashion show in September 2017.

With files from Tara Copeland and Daybreak Kamloops

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