Modeste McKEnzie
Ep 14: Empowering Indigenous Youth with We Matter's Modeste McKenzie
"When you tell an indigenous youth that they matter, when you really listen to them, they feel empowered. "
Episode Description
Modeste is a youth support worker, a proud father, and the National Policy & Grant Coordinator of We Matter. We Matter is a Canadian, Indigenous youth-led organization dedicated to Indigenous youth support, hope and life promotion. Overwhelmed by the number of suicides and other issues Indigenous youth face, brother and sister Kelvin and Tunchai Redvers founded We Matter in 2016. They wanted to create a space that connects Indigenous youth across Canada and provides support and love through culture and sharing. In this episode, Modeste takes us on a journey through time, giving context for the challenges and crises faced by Indigenous youth, while encouraging listeners to explore We Matter’s mental health resources, life promotion services, and its ambassadors of hope program. We end on an uplifting note as Modeste’s describes his love for jigging, a traditional Indigenous-Metis form of dance that’s fulfills his artistic, competitive, and cultural sides. We hope that our Xenolearners take a lot from this episode, and as We Matter would say, remember that you are AMAZING!
[TW: This conversation includes discussions about and/or references to mental health, indigenous history, colonization, residential schools, suicide, and suicide prevention.]
We Matter
We Matter is a Canadian Indigenous youth-led and nationally registered organization dedicated to Indigenous youth support, hope and life promotion. We Matter was started in 2016 by brother and sister Kelvin and Tunchai Redvers. Overwhelmed by the number of suicides and other issues Indigenous youth face, they wanted to create a space that connects Indigenous youth across Canada and provides support and love through culture and sharing.
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About Modeste
Modeste [he/him] is a 26 year old Dene-Metis man who was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and currently resides in La Ronge, Saskatchewan. He has a passion for culture, current events, history, politics and jigging. He is a red river jigging champion, square dancing champion and heel-toe polka champion who has danced with a number of square dance groups such as the Qu’Appelle Valley Square Dancers, Creeland Dancers, Northern Prairie Dancers and Compaigni V’ni Dansi which is based out of Vancouver. He is a proud father to his four-year old daughter named Natalya who was born when La Ronge was going through a suicide crisis – shortly after he was hired as a Youth Support Worker and organized life promotion programming for youth on reserve. In June of 2017 he was acknowledged by the Senate of Canada for his work, this spurred forward his advocacy for better access to life promotion programming for Indigenous youth and the employment of Indigenous youth in the health field.
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Great podcast by Modeste from We Matter and Claire from Xenolearn highlighting all the important work that We Matter does!
Very informative podcast including how and why We Matter was created and information about We Matter’s various programs and resources.