Native youth hit the web

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It's a cold Saturday afternoon and Tarynne Pachano a 16-year-old Ojibway, sits in downtown Ottawa chatting with a visitor from Sweden. Although they have just met, she has a friendly conversation with him and even learns a little about his country. But she never sees his face or hears his voiceand their meeting place isn't a trendy cafe or the local arcade. It's cyberspace.

Their "chat" took place on a new Internet Site for Native youth. It's part of the Aboriginal Youth Network, a project to provide Aboriginal youth with their own World Wide Web site and Internet training.

"We want to get Aboriginal youth interested in the information superhighway when they're young so they'll utilize it when they're older," said AYN site administrator Tania Koenig. "Youth should know that the Internet isn't just a boring computer. It could be a window to the world. Cyberspace is a great place to learn and to meet other people," said Koenig, who is part Cree and German.

On Feb. 24, Tarynne Pachano experienced the global cybervillage firsthand at the Netscape Powwow, the AYN Internet training session where she "chatted" with her new Swedish friend thousands of miles away.

"I can send out and receive information from people all over the world," Pachano said. "So I can get to know people and see what it's like everywhere else."

Pachano and about 10 other Native youth attended the Internet training session at the offices of MicroWorks, an Ottawa computer company. Participants watched a presentation introducing them to the Internet, then received an instruction manual and hands-on training at the computers.

Organizers hope the web site, which has been running since May 1995, will be used as an educational and communications tool for Native youth, linking them with other Aboriginal young people from across Canada and around the world. Native youth are being encouraged to support and educate each other by sharing cultures, traditions and ideas on the site.

MicroWorks president Kendall Lougheed came up with the idea of getting Native youth on the Internet. He sees it as "a great tool for self-development and self-expression," especially for Native youth in remote or isolated areas. A computer with Internet access could even allow young people in those areas to be self-employed (as writers or graphic designers, for example) without having to leave their communities, Lougheed said.

Although the program is funded by health Canada, the AYN "takes a broader approach to health issues," Lougheed said. That means information about emotional and mental health, such as peer pressure, family problems, depression and suicide, are included alongside more traditional health issues like drug and alcohol abuse and smoking. A professional counsellor will also be available on-line to discuss issues and healing methods on a regular basis.

One of the site's features showcases the writing and art of Aboriginal youth. Selected stories from Windspeaker highlighting Native issues and personalities are also available on the web site. Another program in the works, called POWWOW, will allow up to eight people to "talk" simultaneously to each other from around the world.

Users will occasionally get to "talk" to First Nations celebrities on bigger chat lines accommodating up to 50 people at a time. Starting March 31, Native actor Adam Beach, who starred in the films Squanto and Dance Me Outside, will appear in a training module on solvent abuse.

A big challenge for programs like AYN is increasing access to computers and Internet services on reserves, settlements and in First Nations schools. To remedy that, AYN gives Internet training sessions at schools, friendship centres and youth groups, with sessions already completed in Iqaluit, N.W.T., Kanehsatake, Que. and Burnt Church, N.B.

To get on-line and in tune with the new site, hit the World Wide Web at URL address http://www.ayn.ca/