Youth program in One Arrow First Nation encourages young entrepreneurs

As the country just marked its first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, many in Saskatchewan are trying to find ways to create acts of reconciliation in their own communities.

A youth entrepreneurship program is encouraging young people in One Arrow First Nation to come up with business projects.

The latest includes repurposing items like old cabinets and turning them into Indigenous-inspired art.

15-year-old Ruby Daniels says it's fun work.

"It's pretty cool. We used to get to travel around a lot. Like a lot. We used to be out every weekend selling shows like trade shows and powwows and they'd just sit there. Grown adults would just look down at kids and go 'you're so amazing'," she said.

Their work inspired a volunteer from Saskatoon to join forces with them and help expand their business. Jill Sauter got to see what the kids were doing at a conference in 2018and says she wasawestruck by their work.

When the world ground to a halt in 2020, she thought about how their business might be impacted, and got in touch with their coordinator, Joe Taylor, to ask if she could help be part of what they were doingand market their goods.

She had an idea to expand what they were doing to include other Indigenous entrepreneurs and share the stories of these childrenwith people in Saskatchewan.

Earlier this year, the young entrepreneurs came up with a subscription box in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The so-called Fireweed Artisan Boxes offered different pieces of Indigenous art.

It also came with an information packet on the cultural significance of each item and a bit about the artist behind it.

Sauter saidmany people,including herself,didn't grow up with an awareness about things like residential schoolsand it's time to address those gaps in the conversation.

Group coordinatorJoe Taylor saidthey've sparked reconciliation projects throughout Saskatchewan and he is happy to see the positive impact it's having on the kids.

"We strive to give them opportunities that they would never have the chance to do. It's just opening doors, building relationships and everyday is a different day for them. When the world opens up, we get to go places," he said.

One of the people who's also been inspired by their workisCeleste Leray-Leicht, vice-principal of St. Dominic School in Humboldt, who lost her son Jacob in the Humboldt Broncos' crash of 2018.

Thattragedy along with the shooting tragedy in La Loche has really gotten her invested in working toward reconciliation with her students.

She went to the One Arrowpowwow this summer and was captured by the entrepreneurs' artwork and their stories. Now she wants her kids to learn from the children of One Arrow. She and Joe are collaborating on getting the kids to work together via distance to have the One Arrow students teach entrepreneurial and art skills to the children in Humboldt with a goal to meet in person in the future.

"Our students don't have those opportunities, we're for sure an hour and a quarter from any reserve. If I can create an opportunity for my kids, my students, and myself as an educator to learn, that makes our experience that much richer," she said.

She says everyone should care as muchor moreabout the act of reconciliation and supporting Indigenous children as they gave to the Broncos in the wake of that tragedy.

The last edition of Fireweed Artisan Boxes was a special one in honour of National Truth & Reconciliation Day, and those boxes sold out,with boxes going to Vancouver and Toronto.