Learning from each other, together: exploring Red River Métis youth experiences in cultural activities through relationality

For far too long, the Red River Métis have either been excluded from health literature or represented only in Pan-Indigenous research, contributing to considerable underrepresentation and misrepresentation. This project seeks to contribute to distinctions-based Red River Métis health research literature by examining the benefits and impact of Red River Métis youth engaging in Métis cultural activities on health and well-being during Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) Culture Camps. This work embodies relationality by upholding the 6 R’s of Indigenous Research (Relationship, Relevance, Respect, Representation, Reciprocity, and Responsibility) through a decolonizing Red River Métis methodology inspired by the work of Dr. Judith Bartlett. A narrative literature review was conducted to summarize the existing research and silences on the impacts of engaging Indigenous youth in cultural activities in Canada. Various culturally oriented arts-based methods (mural painting and sharing circles) and other Western-developed data-gathering tools (surveys, camp evaluations, field notes) were analyzed using an adapted Reflexive Thematic Analysis guided by our Red River Métis Methodology. In a Kitchen Table Talk, we bring together the interrelated thematic results from Work that has Come Before (literature review) and What We Learned (analysis results) from the MMF Culture Camps. Relationality is identified as a connecting factor between youth, the land, peers, family, and Elders, as positively beneficial to one’s well-being by participating in cultural activities that contribute to personal development and cultural continuity. Relationality is a value, a lived and practiced concept that youth experience when participating in cultural activities that influence well-being. This project connects relationality as a dominant theme and embodied value in this study to uphold Respect, Reciprocity, Responsibility, Representation, Relevance, and Relationship. This project is intended to contri