Members of the organization Bikers Against Child Abuse at the anti-violence conference.
Saskatoon is the host of what organizers say is an important conference on family violence this week.
Over 300 delegates are on hand for the two-day Family Violence Conference devoted to ending family violence in Indigenous communities.
“This conference is about Indigenous families, especially Indigenous children,” said a conference poster.
Conference Coordinator Solomon Cyr says the theme of the conference is Creating tools that will live beyond today.
“Basically this conference is about self-empowerment and we want individuals to take the tools they learned back into their own communities to help fight violence.” he said. “We want people to be able to look at the issue from different angles to develop a new approach to addressing violence in Indigenous families.”
According to Cyr this conference is expected to be the biggest of it’s kind in Saskatchewan this year.
The Family Violence Conference is hosted by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and QBOW child and family services.
The agenda features discussions on several themes including community engagement, impacts of the residential schools, poverty and individual empowerment.
Delegates, elders, presenters, stakeholders, speakers and community organizations are on hand for the conference.
Among them is a group representing Bikers Against Child Abuse.
A spokesperson for the group says they were drawn to the message of the conference.
“We just need awareness for our organization and we want to let people know we are here to empower kids,” said a BACA spokesperson who goes by the road name Bagger. “We have been out here talking to a lot of people spreading our word, which has been great.”
The conference will run on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Saskatoon Inn.