Tikkun Indigenous Youth Research Project Featured in Chronicle-Journal

Dr. Lisa Korteweg’s research project, the recently completed Tikkun Indigenous Youth Project, was featured in the Chronicle-Journal’s Research into Action series. This SSHRC-funded project – an international project with five research sites, including Thunder Bay – explores the factors that encourage youth, aged 16-25, to become drivers of change in their own communities.

"The Tikkun Indigenous Youth project site has helped to create safer spaces in Thunder Bay schools so that northern First Nation youth can buffer and navigate ongoing cultural differences while sharing positive experiences and building community with their Indigenous peers,” Dr. Korteweg explains in the article.

As part of the project, drop-in sessions were held at four high schools where data was collected from Indigenous students on how conditions could be improved as more welcoming and inclusive, and how students could become more engaged in community and school events.

In the third year of the Tikkun Thunder Bay site, a land-based, well-being retreat at Kingfisher Outdoor Education Centre was designed and implemented with 20 youth participants, 4 teacher candidates, and 4 Lakehead Public School Board teachers. At the camp, Master of Education student Jacky Chan, research assistant with the project, worked with the Indigenous youth as part of his research into play-based, laughter-yoga community building (see photo below), and mental health leadership.