“Every day I grew stronger and stronger being there”.: empowerment through land-and art-based Peer Leader retreats with Indigenous and Northern young people

ABSTRACT

Indigenous adolescents in Canada are among those shouldering the impacts of colonialism and racism. Peer approaches and art-and-land-based programming have demonstrated promise to support empowerment and well-being, yet little is known about their efficacy with Northern and Indigenous adolescents in Canada or of how this group conceptualises empowerment. Fostering Open eXpression among Youth (FOXY) and Strength, Masculinities, and Sexual Health (SMASH) conduct land-and-arts-based Peer Leader Retreats with adolescents from the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon Territories. Retreats (2017–2019) included 286 participants (n=196 women [trans-inclusive], n=84 men [trans-inclusive], n=5 non-binary), aged 12–19, the majority of whom (n=235) were Indigenous. Participants completed surveys immediately before and following retreats and 6 months after. Focus group discussions (FGDs) (n=24) were conducted with participants (peer leaders and apprentices) (n=232) following the retreat, and youth staff members (peer facilitators) (aged 14–21, n=7 FGDs). Applying thematic analysis, we explored retreat experiences (FGDs), and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to examine pre/post retreat changes in leadership, empowerment, and self-confidence (surveys). Quantitatively, there were statistically significant increases in leadership and empowerment in post-retreat scores compared to pre-retreat. Qualitatively, findings demonstrate how Peer Leader Retreats premised on land-and-art-based approaches can support empowerment, confidence, leadership, and social-connectedness.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous and northern youth
• empowerment
• land- and art-based programming
• peer models

Acknowledgments

Foremost thanks to FOXY and SMASH participants, including those who attended Peer Leader Retreats for generously sharing their time and expertise.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Geolocation information

This study was conducted at Blachford Lake Lodge (located at Blachford Lake, NT) with residents of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut, Canada.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2022.2125489

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Arctic Inspiration Prize, the Public Health Agency of Canada (1718-HQ-000617 and 1617-HQ-000033), Canada Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories.CLL’s research programme is supported by the Arctic Inspiration Prize and the Public Health Agency of Canada. CHL’s research programme is supported by the Canada Research Chairs, Canada Foundation for Innovation, and Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. LG was supported by a Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellowship. KM is supported by a University of Toronto Provost postdoctoral fellowship. SBT was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellowship (HIV – 181932).