Summary
Siksika Nation was awarded the Communities ChooseWell program's Most Significant Community Change Award from the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association during the 2017 President’s Awards Banquet in Lake Louise, Alta. on Oct. 28. The banquet honoured volunteers, professionals, and elected officials from across the province.
The awards recognize and promote the creativity, dedication and perseverance of those committed to using parks and recreation to raise the quality of life of Albertans. The Most Significant Community Change award celebrates a community that has taken great steps to enhance holistic wellness in their community over the last year.
The Siksika N7 Program represents a partnership between Siksika Health Services and the Nike N7 Program. The program’s goal is to empower and motivate youth in Siksika Nation to know who they are and inspire their families and communities.
By offering a wide array of supports focusing on sports, culture, and education, the SN7 program strives to combat youth isolation, and health and social challenges by instilling self-confidence and pride in the youth.
“The older generation always say that they wish they had this program when they were younger, so just hearing those responses is amazing,” said Rilee Manybears, a Siksika N7 youth leader and World Indigenous Games gold medalist.
The SN7 program is continually developing their programs, including basketball camps, tournaments, and holiday games, as well as more traditional Indigenous cultural activities, such as face-painting, prayer, and naming ceremonies.
This program enables Siksika to use recreation and culture to not only engage with their youth but is also one of many forms of suicide prevention.
“The way we empower our kids is we don’t let people sit on the sidelines. We go and encourage them to come in and say ‘well, if you’re going to sit here, then you’re not going to sit alone, I’m going to sit here with you,’ … and within 10 minutes, the kids are out on the floor,” said Spike Eaglespeaker Jr., Siksika N7 Coordinator.