A youth-led initiative is bringing drug awareness to the big screen.
While stories of opioid-related deaths are sweeping the country, Stoney Nakoda First Nation has been facing its own problems with fentanyl and methamphetamine.
“The number of deaths have not stopped and the number of overdoses as well,” said Const. Donald Vanderrick.
“The flag seems to be at half-mast more than it should be.”
Vanderrick is one of two officers who work with the Nation as part of a joint policing agreement created under the RCMP First Nations Community Policing Service. It brings constables to work on the reservations to promote community programs.
Vanderrick has seen a lot of death, saying one to two deaths a week is a fair estimate. While the reasons range from drug and alcohol use, violent crime and natural causes, he said drugs are exasperating the situation.
“It’s like the elephant in the room – no one wants to talk about it,” Vanderrick said.
But that silence is coming to an end as a group of youth gear up to start producing a scripted short film that will raise drug awareness.
Funded by a grant from the Canadian Crime Prevention program, this will be the second film made by youth in the community to raise awareness for the issues on the Nation.
The first film, A New Warrior for Hope, was brainstormed by Cathy Arcega, former manager for the youth engagement strategy and Edmonton filmmaker Jason Gondziola and funded through Alberta Health Services.
“At the time we were making the film, we were dealing with a lot of death from prescription drugs,” Arcega explained.
“We wanted to give the youth an opportunity to express the challenges of life and issues going on out here and what they face – we wanted to give them a medium to share what they go through.”
The first video was “loosely based” on an incident on the reservation where a shooting during a robbery occurred.
The first film had youth actor Gage Beaver playing the protagonist and protective big brother to ‘Hope,’ struggling with drugs and bullying and Stoney Nakoda elder Sykes Powderface trying to guide the young man from a lifetime of wrong decisions.
“The storyline progresses to where people go into a home in the middle of the night looking for drugs and a firearm was discharged – in real life the bullet didn’t hit anyone – but in the film it does,” Arcega said.
The film premiered on the Nation in January 2015.
“There were quite a lot (of youth) involved and it was quite successful with the kids,” Vanderrick said.
The first film has been shown at the Morley Community School as an educational tool and principal Jody Ferguson said the second film will “likely” be used the same way.
“We know there is a drug problem everywhere and the (youth) have shown an interest in educating the students,” Ferguson said.
“Whatever issue is going on in any community, any valuable communication starts with the students.”
Similar to the first video, the youth are in charge of scriptwriting, acting, lighting, audio/visual, and filming.
The second video is described as “almost a part two” and is again loosely based on a Nation incident where an elder lost her grandson and daughter in accidental overdoses within the span of a week.
“It focuses on putting a human face to it,” Vanderrick explained.
“It is really good, and positive and encouraging to know they youth have this creative energy and drive. We are stimulating community action.”
The recent drug activity on the Nation has sparked community meetings inviting officials to speak and brainstorm ideas to help save lives.
“The (solution) has to be multifaceted, it can’t just be the RCMP getting rid of drug dealers because there is still supply and demand. The problem is not going to go away by putting everyone in jail – the underlying issues are still there,” Vanderrick said.
“We want to foster community action. The solution needs to come from the community.”
The project received government funding in the summer and needs to be completed by January 2018.
Auditioning for the second film will take place over the month of March.
