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RECOMMENDATION 2:
Know Who You Are
Working With
I
n order to engage Indigenous youth in respectful
and meaningful ways it is critical that you have an
understanding of who you are working with. There
is vast diversity across and within First Nations, Métis
and Inuit communities that must be recognized and
referenced when developing strategies for working
with us.
Some helpful questions to consider are:
• Which Indigenous group or groups do the youth
you are working with self-identify as being a part
of (First Nations, Métis, Inuit)?
• Which specific community are they originally from
and where are they currently living?
• Have they spent most of their time living in urban,
rural, remote or a combination of settings?
• Do they identify as LGBTQ or Two Spirit?
• How do they prefer to identify themselves? (i.e.
gender pronouns, cultural group, terminology etc.)
• What languages do they speak?
• Are they connected to their culture and
spirituality? If so, what does this look like for
them?
• Have they experienced any recent or
intergenerational trauma?
