Photo: Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald Team lead Rhonda Roberts helped Mathew Laroque with the hide stretching for the YES Program Barbecue and Hide Stretching on Saturday at the PAGC Cultural Centre.
By: Michael Oleksyn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Prince Albert Daily Herald
The YES Program run by the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) shared culture practices and a barbecue on Saturday at the PAGC Cultural Centre.
The YES (Youth Empowerment Strategy) is run by the Prince Albert Grand Council from the PAGC Cultural Centre in the former Parkland Hall.
YES team lead Rhonda Roberts said they community barbecue and hide scraping is a good way to let residents know more about the program.
“I wanted to open it up to the community so that they would have an idea of what we do here,” she explained. “I’ve got some display boards up if they have questions. They can find some of my staff that are here with us today and see if they can answer some questions. Some of the youth even can answer the questions.”
Roberts said the YES was created for Indigenous urban youth in Prince Albert. The program is funded through Jordan’s Principle and has been running for seven years.
She said that having any kind of exposure is positive for the program.
“It’s not often we have a chance to get out to do the exposure because we run Tuesday to Saturday,” she explained.
Roberts has been with the program for six years, but this is her fourth as team lead. She arrived not long after they moved into their current location after originally starting up on the PAGC grounds.
The program accepts youth from ages 11 to 18 and runs after schools and on Saturdays. They also run a summer program that runs Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m.
She said that youth come in at four and are picked up and come in and have a meal before sessions begin before finishing at 9 p.m.
The YES program offers many sessions and programs including land-based learning.
“They can go out on the land, they can do shelter building, they can do building fires. We do take them out fishing, ice fishing in the winter. We take them to camps in the summer,” Roberts said.
There is also the music program which is run by Kevin Joseph twice a week. The self-regulation program is the Cadet program run by Rick Sanderson out of the PAGC Urban Services building.
“He does really well with our youth,” Roberts said. “Then we have our cultural programming—going out to find our medicines, ceremonies—and then physical activity. Anything physical, we get our kids and try to get them involved in all of that.”
She said introducing youth to cultural programs helps keep them on a good path and away from gangs and other bad lifestyle choices.
Roberts said that the program is highly successful as shown by past attendees feedback.
“We’ve had youth who have aged out and whether we bump into them or they come to visit us here, they let us know if it wasn’t for this program, ‘I don’t know where I would be,’” Roberts explained. “They thank us for what we were able to do for them.”
She said that hearing those words from former program youth is gratifying.
“It’s a very big reward for us,” Roberts said.
Before the day began, youth practiced their drumming for the drum circle which opened the barbecue following speeches from Roberts and Mathew Laroque, the YES program’s culture person who put together the idea for hide stretching.
“He’s the one that sets things up and I just back him up with the things he wants to do,” Roberts said.
The bison hide was donated by Bison Ridge farms and will be used for a pow wow drum skin.
Roberts said that having an activity and barbecue could become a tradition for the program.
“We want to make sure our youth are getting what they need to out of our programming,” she said. “We want the community to see that we’re kind of hidden in a corner but we’re here and we want the community to know that we’re here and it’s all free.”
She said that having the program be free for youth with Treaty status was another advantage of it. She said participation is entirely voluntary.
“When we phone, they get to make their choice. We can’t force them to come…. We can’t force them. It’s all up to them.”
Roberts encouraged anyone who may be interested to come and see if the program was right for them. It is based out of the PAGC Cultural Centre.
“If you have indigenous urban youth, send them our way. We’ll get them registered,” Roberts said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca