RUNNING HEAD:

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Sophia Barton-Bucknor
University of British Columbia
ETEC 521
Final Paper
Total Word Count: 2246

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Introduction
It was law back then to take children way from their natural families and put them
into residential schools as part of the colonization process This resulted in a loss of
identity.
-

Residential Truth: Unified Future by Reel Youth and UNYA

The stories within the digital short Residential Truth: Unified Future produced by Reel
Youth and Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA) highlight a legacy of colonization and the
residential school system which still affect the lives of Indigenous peoples. Today there is
intergenerational impact of colonization, the residential school system along with the Sixties
Scoop that evidences in family systems being compromised, the loss in language, culture,
identity, home, and the absence of teachings from one generation to another.
Statistics Canada points to an Aboriginal population that is young with a median age of
28, in fact Aboriginal youth and children make up 25.2% of the total population, with youth 15
to 24 representing 18.2% and children 14 and under 7%. It is recognized that as the fastest
growing population and should be seen as drivers of and partners to economic development,
(AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo, The Star). The Aboriginal population is also seen as one of
the most diverse in terms of place, language, and culture. A population that is this young is also a
population that might be one that may be influenced by the digital revolution, the technologized
environment of the 21st century. How does this impact the world view, culture and personal
views of this young population?

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Storytelling
Storytelling is the way we have communicated since our earliest ancestors gathered
around a fire. The stories and anecdotes we share with one another are the way we let
each other know who we are, where we come from, where we are going and, most
importantly, what we care about."
- Dana Atchley
Among Indigenous peoples, storytelling has long been a respected way of transmitting
traditional teachings and knowledge. Gray, Or de Boehm, Farnsworth, and Wolf (2011) posit
that storytelling has a healing and restorative benefit; participating in it creates a non-threatening
environment where people can develop a sense of belonging, reflect on personal experience,
and reconnect with traditional traditions. Storytelling also facilitates a coming together that
affirms sense of self and being a part of a community.
This paper seeks to explore the use of storytelling by Indigenous youth through the
medium of digital stories. In particular, Indigenous youth in Canada, with particular attention to
British Columbia (BC), one of the provinces (Statistics Canada) where the largest numbers of
Aboriginal people live.
Power of Digital Storytelling
Digital storytelling focuses on everyday stories told by ordinary people; the accounts
are short and autobiographical, combining oral storytelling with images and music to
create an aesthetic product and meaningful, often sentimental, narrative.
-

Naomi Adelson and Michelle Olding

Gray et al (2011) argue that Indigenous groups, including youth, are exploiting the power
of digital storytelling to promote personal and communal health and increase advocacy and
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Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

awareness of social, political and health issues. Digital stories provide a space for the voices of
the ordinary person and Indigenous groups, who are very attracted to the power of the internet
and digital technology (Bowers, Vasquez, and Roaf, 2000), and are moving into this space.
Edmonds, Chenhall, Arnold, Lewis and Lowish (2014) propose that youth and their communities
are provided with digital space to speak out, to make meaning and present their experiences
without the intervention of others.
Digital stories are being used and are gaining popularity within the formal learning space.
It can be argued that Indigenous youth are becoming more exposed to this form of storytelling.
Many Indigenous community organizations are also using digital stories. Adelson and Olding
(2013; citing McWilliams, 2009) posit that digital stories are framed by three common themes:
historical, aspirational and recuperative. Digital stories are increasingly being used by
Indigenous organizations that provide a service or work with youth, these include: Carrier
Sekani, University of Victoria, Reel Youth, Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services
Society (VACFSS), UNYA, and Vancouver Island University (VIU). Given the power, the
benefits of digital storytelling and its appeal to Indigenous youth, one can appreciate Gladys
Joes -- a VIU youth participant in a digital story project -- perspective that digital storytelling
gives Aboriginal youth a voice. Bowers et al (2000) cautions the use of digital technology may
perpetuate Western learning and ideals. However, Indigenous this may provide Indigenous youth
and the communities the opportunity to reframe and situate technology within their space. So,
how are digital stories being impacted and are impacted by Indigenous youth? How are they
being framed? What are the driving factors? How are youth affected?

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Digital Stories: Impacting and Being Impacted by Indigenous Youth

A. Therapeutic and Recuperative
Narrative sharing through digital storytelling is for many of its Indigenous producers and
users a powerful and explicit means of engaging in the process of decolonization.
-

Naomi Adelson and Michelle Olding

Colonization, the residential school system, and the Sixties Scoop result in an
intergenerational loss of soul or spirit for many Indigenous peoples (Gray et al, 2011); this
sentiment is also articulated by Indigenous youth in their digital narrative Residential Truth:
Unified Future. In the digital story, bandaid, produced by Reel Youth and youth in Youth COs
Aborginial Youth Program, the point is made that the wound from residential school cannot be
healed by money. While silent film, this Claymation story is even more powerful because of that
silence. And may indicate the silence of Indigenous voices and loss of language because of
residential school. This loss is underscored by Robin Gray in the digital story of her Photovoice
project where she states that as a result of her father and his siblings being taken away and put
into the residential school, they lost their language; today she does not know the language of her
band. However, as Episkenew (2009) posits, digital narrative or storytelling can act as medicine
for healing trauma and loss that resulted from colonization and its arms residential school
system and the Sixties Scoop. In the digital story, decolonization, Youth COs youth participants
make the point that while residential school resulted in a loss of pride, culture and hope, these
can be restored through a process of decolonization. Digital stories can be a tool in the process of
decolonization. They can facilitate the process of reflection, examination, meaning-making of
historical and current events and how these events have and are shaping community and personal
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Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

identities. This process allows for understanding, forgiveness and readiness to seek and receive
support.
B. Facilitating Connections and Intergenerational Knowledge
Lets go home, my people, lets go back to our own way of life. It does not mean
that we are going to be live in long house and tipi, but how we think. We think winner, we
think strong, we support each other.
-

Elder participant in Come Home, a digital story by Youth CO and Reel Youth

The creation of digital stories involves self-reflection of ones social and cultural
history, sense of belonging is created that may build community and connection with others
(Gray et al, 2011). One of the legacy of colonization, the residential system and the Sixties
Scoop is lack of connection to traditional ways of doing that naturally occur within communities
and families. The Youth CO digital story, Come Home, depicts an elder sharing the Indigenous
ways of ensuring that the community is strong, healthy, and protective of its members. In
Responsibility Stories by VACFSS, youth and elder articulate their personal and community
responsibilities. As the elder states, we have a responsibility to share our stories, our realities of
where we are and why in order to improve the lives of those who come behind us
Digital stories both facilitate this intergenerational connectedness as well as serves as a
tool to capture and preserve the stories for others who come behind. This is echoed by a youth
participant in the digital story Voices by UNYA when she said that It is important that as young
people to preserve the culture because as the elder in the story states, our people have a lot of
struggle to get our culture come back to life. Some of these stories are now being captured via
digital media.

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

C. Identity, Empowerment and Transformation

Embracing my culture has helped me become a more compassionate person, more
strong person, more in touch with my identity.
- Courtenay Agecoutay, youth participant,
Residential Truth: Unified Future by Reel Youth and UNYA
Edmond et al (2014) state that the Aboriginal community has been quick to adopt digital
technology and digital storytelling as a process that supports cultural identity. The internet and
digital technology are tools that help to reshape the politics of identity and allow once
marginalized communities, such as the Indigenous communities, to use them to tell their stories
(Niezen, 2005), in their own way, using their own images. In Photovoice, Farley, a 25 year old
youth, states that some photos, images selected have specific meaning. An example of this are
the images of residential school presented in Residential Truth: Unified Future . Gray et al
(2011) posit that the process of creating a digital story -- telling personal stories, writing a script
and collecting photos allows one to explore how their identities and been formed and shaped
by society. Digital story telling includes the deliberate selection of images or photos that
underscores, strengthens or represents the message and the messenger. In this way, Indigenous
youth have been able to situate their identity, reclaim their culture can lead to growth and
transformation. In By My Name, youth from Carrier Sekani youth program indicate that they can
resist stereotypes or get their knowledge back in order to reclaim their identity. Indigenous
youths use of digital stories could be seen as similar to the Plains Apache project (Prins, 2002)
where digital media is used by the community as a tool to preserve its ways of knowing for
themselves.

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Engagement in the creative process and production of crafting a digital story presents
youth with the potential for empowerment, self-efficacy and gaining a sense of control (Gray
et al, 2011). Youth are placed in the position of being experts and given the responsibility of
presenting their stories in ways that are authentic and representative of their culture; something
that they and their community can be proud of, and not something that is imposed by others or
told from an outsiders perspective. In effect, they are responsible produsers, supporting
Aboriginal youth culture and identity (Edmonds et al, 2014). This is evident in Youth COs
clamaytions bandaid and decolonization and many other digital stories where images depict their
culture, history. In addition, many Indigenous youth claim their identity by declaring the nation
or band that they are from.
Youth are placed in immersive, hands-on learning experiences that happen naturally. It
reflects a community of practice approach where development of skills, knowledge and
identity are facilitated (Lave and Wagner, 1991, cited in Barab and Duffy, 1998). Skills such as
digital literacy, editing, filming and image selection are learned naturally. This peer and
community driven, sometimes elder mentored environment represents the natural way of
teaching and learning typifies the Indigenous community-based approach. Youth, such as those
who are involved in these Claymation and any of the videos discussed in this paper, feel valued
because their opinions are heard, feel a part of a community because they created in
collaboration with other youth or as a part of a community organization, and feel empowered
because they are provided with real world skills that they can build upon.

Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

Have a right to be heard. Rights are not something to be earned. They are something
everyone deserves. - Youth participants, VACFSS digital story, Be Heard,
Digital stories provide a space for advocacy and awareness on cultural, historical and
social issues that Indigenous youth identify as important. Like Be Heard, many digital stories by
Indigenous youth have an advocacy or awareness factor. This can be seen in Youth COs sexual
awareness and sexual health digital stories such as How to Talk About Sex, use protection about
measures to protect one from AIDS and HIV, and VACFSS Youth Councils stories about youth
rights, especially for those who are in foster care. These reflect the reality and concerns for most
youth today, whether Indigenous or not as well as the realities of Indigenous youth, many of
whom are overrepresented in the foster care system in BC. Through these digital stories, youth
voices might be heard by other youth, parents, guardians and policy makers that may result in
change.
Conclusion
Colonization, the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop are have had long term
intergenerational impact of the Indigenous community. This can be represented by one word:
loss - loss of culture, identity, history and soul. Storytelling has been recognized for its strengths
in passing on the ways of a community in a holistic way. For this Indigenous community, it has a
special place of pride that is tied to its long history of oral tradition. Indigenous youth have
grown up in this environment of loss but also in a highly digitized environment. They have been
moving into the space of creating digital stories. These stories are presentative of a contemporary
approach to creating, sharing and telling stories. The approach and process is also therapeutic,
and one that facilitates connections and transfer and preservation of intergenerational knowledge
and the claiming or reframing of identity and self-representation.
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Participatory Filmmaking: Exploring Digital Stories and Indigenous Youth in BC

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