by Kate Lechnir

Hertel, Wisconsin (Akiing)

Ninety youth from area schools were released on Dec. 2 to attend the 22nd Annual St. Croix TRAILS Youth Conference at the St. Croix Tribal Center in Hertel. A group of 10 Native American high school students from Thunder Bay, Ontario also attended.

Keynote speaker was Bernie Stevens, a social worker from the Lincoln Hills Youth Correctional Facility, who talked with the youth about the importance of traditional values. He raised the questions, “What is tradition today?” “How has it changed over the years?” “What impact have these changes had on our lives?”

Mark Soulier, the St. Croix TRAILS (Traditions Respecting American Indian Life Styles) coordinator, said, “The Youth on the Red Road Conference is designed to help keep Youth walking on this sacred path. Talking, listening and participating in these kinds of conferences brings the youth together as a group.They find other peers that they can relate to. They can discuss what they have done in the past through a sharing of their life stories. This helps to build friendships.”

After lunch, the students divided into two groups, male and female, for separate workshops. Stevens conducted a breakout session with the young men, centering the discussion around respect for traditional values, self and women. Wanda McFaggen, St. Croix Tribal Historian, spoke with the young women about women’s issues.

The conference offered three other workshops in the afternoon. Ann Marie Penzkover, Dean of Students at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College and Veronica Kinsel, the St. Croix Juvenile Justice Case Manager, co-hosted a session titled, “Honoring Our Self.” “All kids are ‘at risk,’” noted Kinsel. “All too often there is a tug of war between what the family values and what friends are doing. The kids are torn. Because of this internal conflict, they are not certain who they can talk to or where they can go to feel safe expressing themselves. When there is no adult available to them, they tend to listen to their peers. Sometimes, what they hear and what they perceive as the truth ends with wrong choices, bad consequences, and feeling alienated.”

Kinsel added, “There can be a harmonious blending of cultural traditions and modern ways. Youth are asking to know more about their culture. It is our responsibility, as a community, to encourage them to find and stay on the Red Road. That sacred path will then be one of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity.”

Brent Belisle, St. Croix Youth AODA Coordinator, conducted a session on the traditional uses of tobacco. “Traditionally, there were four ways to use tobacco: For prayer, offerings, purification and respect. None of these uses of tobacco were harmful or led to addiction,” explained Belisle. “The tobacco plant is sacred in that the roots grow deep into the earth and the smoke fills the air to carry our prayers to the Great Spirit. Tobacco is our connection from Mother Earth to Father Sky.”

Belisle continued, “Too many people have lost the sacredness of tobacco. The big tobacco companies target our youth to addict them at a very early age to tobacco products. Native American youth are an easy target because we have grown up around tobacco misuse. Native Americans as a whole, have the highest (40 percent adult and 30 percent teenager) rate of addition to tobacco.” During the workshop, Belisle led students in a discussion on preventative measures for tobacco use and ways to bring back the sacredness of tobacco.

A third workshop focusing on guns and violence was conducted by Officer William Blake from the Minneapolis police department and the St. Croix Tribal police.

In the late afternoon, students enjoyed arts and crafts activities. Soulier said, “Coming off the Red Road... using alcohol and drugs... is a choice many youth are making today. This conference is designed to help them return to the sacred road by making good choices and embracing traditions.”