(submitted photo/Patricia St. Denis)

By Nicole Reis

Think Indigenous RED Talk

RED Talk creates a space for youth to speak their truth

Feb 12, 2020 | 5:08 PM

Think Indigenous RED Talks guides First Nation youth to have conversations around issues happening in their communities through the lens of a young person.

Patricia St. Denis, Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) superintendent of education told meadowlakeNOW RED Talks create a space for young people to think and speak about personal and socioeconomic issues Indigenous youth face.

“With myself, I wanted to bring Think Indigenous up to the North because our First Nation youth are not always represented in their own decision-making,” she said. “To have this platform to speak truth and share truth-bombs was something I felt I could do to make sure I could provide a safe space for Meadow Lake youth.”

RED Talks stands for Revolutionary Educational Decolonization. Think Indigenous, a non-profit organization, is slated to host the MLTC Full Circle conference — Western Canada’s largest Indigenous education conference — in March.

Students from nine First Nation communities in the region gathered at Carpenter High School on Feb. 6 for the second annual RED Talk to listen and hear young voices on a range of topics. The event was at capacity with over 370 seats filled with students from Grade 7 to 12.

Riderville

Now for the Hard Part

Dec 10, 2025

Grey Cup!!!

Everything you wanted and more

Nov 21, 2025

Ferland earns Grey Cup ring

'A wonderful human being': High school coach thrilled Logan Ferland is a Grey Cup champion

Nov 17, 2025

“Youth have a choice of what they want to speak about because Think Indigenous encourages speaking from the heart and that’s why truth-bombs come out when you speak from the heart,” St. Denis said.

Topics covered during the local talk concerned substance abuse and coping with mental illnesses.

RED Talk is a one-day youth event with two days of preparing young speakers to build leadership skills and build their voice while learning to cope with anxieties about public speaking.

“You can’t attend a youth RED Talk and not be a changed person when the day is done,” St. Denis said. “If we want to help them make change, we have to put into action what they want to see changed.”

(submitted photo/Think Indigenous Facebook)

Chris Scribe, executive director of Think Indigenous told meadowlakeNOW his work supports youth initiatives, youth voice and youth empowerment.

“It’s about having an opportunity to build self-esteem and speaking skills and to get students to feel and show them we value what they have to say and we value their voice,” he said. “We don’t always give youth the opportunity to share truth.”

Scribe said students covered a variety of issues including colonization, generational effects of residential schools, racism, poverty, suicide, drug abuse, mental health, and sexual abuse.

“We hear from the people it’s affecting most,” Scribe said. ”We’re giving a voice to people who may not always have a voice. These youth are powerful and the things they talk about are real.”

Scribe said a young person at Thursday’s talk discussed facing racism in this province and concerns about being followed in stores and being treated differently, simply because they are Indigenous.

“If we would just sit down and listen to these youth speak, then we would get direction from them and learn what’s valuable to them,” Scribe said. “The more opportunities we offer our youth an opportunity to speak and listen in a constructive way, the easier it is to make a difference.”

Think Indigenous has been invited to Harvard University this summer as part of its 50th anniversary of Native American Alumni.

—

nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722