The high school experience is different for everyone. While some refer to it as the best years of their lives, others can't wait to be done with it, enduring bullying at the hands of others—who are often suffering with their own internal struggles.
A new initiative from the Southern Stl'atl'imx Health Society (SSHS) and Pemberton Secondary School (PSS) aims to encourage kinder, more thoughtful behaviour among the school's student body.
The Kindness Pledge lays out some guidelines for being a kind person, including completing a "simple act of kindness every day" and listening "without judgment."
"I will let people know that I care—by my words, and my actions. I will live in kindness, I will care for myself so that I may be more caring towards others," the pledge reads.
The kindness pledge was originally designed by the SSHS, and was modified by PSS staff to be more inclusive and directive, while still addressing its core aim: to reduce instances of lateral violence.
"My goal is to spread lateral kindness rather than lateral violence," said Brittani Peters, a Lil'wat Nation Indigenous culture and language worker, who brought the initiative to PSS in coordination with fellow Indigenous support worker Helena Edmonds.
"There's too much lateral violence within our communities. We need to bring back kindness and an understanding of how kindness feels in our heart."
Signatories, she added, are required to have a guardian take the pledge.
Peters said that this allows the pledge's message to be amplified.
"If someone sees our youth and young ones being kind, it makes a big impact on everyone," she added.
As part of the school initiative, students are being awarded "kindness tickets" when they do something nice.
These tickets will in turn be entered in an end-of-year draw, said Peters.
The pledge is part of a much larger initiative, called the Kindness Project, which was launched by the SSHS at the Xet'olacw Community School in Mount Currie in April 2019.
The aim of the project is to restore and strengthen traditional Stl'atl'imx values of kindness and respect and combat issues of lateral violence, which can be defined as taking the anger that should be directed at a person that hurt you and turning it towards a peer, community member or even family member.
Among the Kindness Project's core teachings is that everybody matters and is worthy of respect.
As part of the project, a host of Stl'atl'imx musicians produced an album, The Kindness Project, which went on to win a Native American Award for Best Linguistic and Historical Recording (thanks in no small part to Peters, who sang on the CD.)
Rosemary Stager, health director for the SSHS, launched the kindness pledge at PSS with a Dec. 13 presentation at the school. She said she hopes students choose a "kinder response" to the challenges they face day to day.
In her presentation, Stager wove in some Canadian history from a First Nations' perspective, highlighting the connection between residential schools and lateral violence.
It is important to understand that lateral violence is not confined to people who went to residential school, that the legacy of residential schools has extended through generation to present day, she told Pique.
On a positive note, Stager said she is encouraged about how First Nations' history is now woven into school curriculum in ways that it previously hadn't been.
"A lot of First Nation kids look around and say, 'Why are so many of our people poor, while my other friends, who are white, seem more well off?'" said Stager.
She recalled that when she explained some of the underlying reasons to her son, he had a eureka moment. "He said, 'Mom, I wish a lot of native kids knew this. It would make them feel a lot better about themselves,' explained Stager.
"A lot of [kids] don't understand the social dynamics on why things are the way they are."
To learn more about the kindness project, check out www.sshskindnessproject.ca.
