Check out the new videos produced by the HLN this summer!!!

Take a look at the two documentaries the HLN was hard at work on over the last few months!!!

Thanks to a Healthy and Vibrant Communities grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which was awarded to the Honouring Life Network in November of 2009 we were able to bring you these two amazing short documentaries focusing on some of the positive Aboriginal youth programming that is being offered across our country. We hope that by highlighting the efforts of these two different Ontario communities, that the feeling of hope for the future will spread through our youth and across our great nation.

Bimaadiziwin which can be translated from Ojibway to mean “Living in a Good Way”, highlights the efforts of Walpole Island First Nation and the Bkejwanong Youth Facility, and shows the positive changes community members have seen in the youth, and the community as a whole, since its establishment.

Songedamowin which is an Algonquin word meaning “Trust” or “To Trust”, focuses on the Wabano Health Centre, located in the urban centre of our nation's capital, Ottawa. The centre serves First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth in addition to children, families, elders and the community as a whole.

HLN How do YOU honour life?! Contest Winners

The votes have been tabulated... and the winners of this years suicide prevention contest, How do YOU honour life?!, have now been announced!!!

Multimedia:
1. First Place: "Self Image” submitted by Melissa Ziehlike and Sandra Kritzer- Flin Flon MB

2.First Runner-up: “How I Honour Life” submitted by Brad Fyfe, Anthony Morrisseau, Dan Isham and Jessica Desrosiers- Fort Frances, ON

3. Second Runner-up: “Alice” submitted by Catherine Coe, Shawnna Goulet, Caitlyn Goulet, Mandy Goulet, Lavina Black, Chavannah Kochon, Kaiya Delorme, Kevin Betsina, Johnny Martin, and Tyanna Gofard- Yellowknives Dene First Nation (N'Dilo), NWT

Written:
1. First Place: “Honouring Life- Suicide Prevention” submitted by Krista Alec- Prince George, BC

2. First Runner-up: What Does Honouring Life Mean to Me: “Voices” submitted by Robert Animikii Horton, Rainy River First Nations, ON


CHECK OUT THE WINNING SUBMISSIONS

Aboriginal Peoples’ Program (APP) now accepting applications for the Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY)

Aboriginal Peoples’ Program (APP) is now accepting applications for the Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY) for specific projects for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. The CCAY supports culturally-focused, community-based, youth-led activities that connect Aboriginal youth aged 10-24 with their culture, build self-confidence and self-esteem, motivate them to make positive life choices, and to participate in Canadian society.


APPLICATION

Applications to the Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth must be postmarked no later than Monday, January 31, 2011 and sent to:

Department of Canadian Heritage
Aboriginal Peoples’ Program
Attn: Chantelle Favell-Rubenstahl
Suite 1630, 9700 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 4C3

Canadian Rangers Tackle Native Youth Suicide

(GLOBE AND MAIL, CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD )
"When one grows up in an institution," he told The Globe, "you don't learn about normal interactions and human relationships." He said that among survivors, "you never hear about affection, you never see them showing affection, and you probably know that children need constant reminders that they're important, that someone cares. I never hear that from residential school survivors." The publicizing of the suicide statistics, which NAN helped Statistics Canada gather, is part of what Grand Chief Beardy calls the organization's move toward greater transparency, as well as to create more awareness of how serious a problem suicide is for his people.

Article in its Entirety