They built the system. You’re here to transform it.
YOU LIVED IT:
- The school that gave up on you before you had a chance.
- The system that traded your name for a number.
- The silence they expected you to carry.
NOT ANYMORE
NISKIWÂK – Standing Upright is an intensive three-day program where lived experience becomes your greatest strength.
We’re training Indigenous youth ages 18–29 to turn every story into a catalyst for change: storytelling circles, land-based activities, media training, and digital tools.
Put your truth directly in front of the people who wrote the policies that failed you.
This isn’t just a program. It’s a movement of healing and accountability, and it starts with your voice reclaiming our narrative.
Every teaching, every session, every video you make is a step toward a system that reflects our truth, respects our culture, and honours our people.
Your culture is your power. Your voice is not optional.
• Stand up.
• Show up.
• Build a new path forward.
Join NISKIWÂK. Reclaim your story.
THE PROJECT
NISKIWÂK is an intensive, Elder-guided media and storytelling initiative designed to confront the systemic racism Indigenous youth face in education, policing, and the justice system. NISKIWÂK centers lived experience as a source of knowledge, recognizing youth voices as essential to understanding how colonial structures continue to shape outcomes today.
THE OPPORTUNITY
If you’re aged 18-29 and qualify, you are invited to participate in our intensive long-weekend culture-based camps at White Buffalo Road Healing Lodge. Through guided storytelling circles, land-based teachings, media workshops, and youth-led discussions, participants explore their experiences and transform them into creative and policy-relevant narratives. Elders guide cultural and ceremonial components, grounding the program in Anishinaabe teachings, relational accountability, and community values.
WHAT WE WILL CO-CREATE
Learn video production, digital storytelling, audio recording, and visual communication skills to share your lived experiences with agency and creative control through short videos, audio stories, zines, and visual pieces.
HOW YOUR EFFORTS WILL BE SHOWCASED
Near the end of the project, these findings will be shared with school boards, justice partners, and provincial ministries through a policy roundtable that brings together Elders, educators, policymakers, and youth leaders. Youth-produced media will also support broader public awareness, offering clear, accessible portrayals of how racism is experienced and how systems can change.
YOUR COMMITTMENT
Fully participate in sharing circles and land-based activities including hunting, fishing, and Indigenous knowledge transfer. Throughout the project, your viewpoint produces media that include a policy toolkit, a briefing note, and recommendations for policymakers to address anti-Indigenous racism and structural barriers.
By the end, you won’t just have lived your experience — you’ll name it, explain it, and speak to it with confidence, in your own words and language, to anyone who asks.
Is This For You?
If this is for you, you’re invited to participate!
Contact Michael:
michael.white@whitebuffaloroad.com
White Buffalo Road Healing Lodge sits alongside Highway 69, between
Pointe Au Baril and Parry Sound, at Shawnanaga First Nation.
SEE OUR FAQ below for transportation and other info.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dates
Session dates to choose from will be announced shortly on our website and Facebook page:
This program is an intensive three-day weekend commencing Thursday night and ending Sunday afternoon. Be sure to book a day off from your weekday obligations.
Cost
There is no cost to you. The program is sponsored through a grant from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and our community research partners Nandawejigewin Gamig, a community-driven Indigenous research space housed at Laurentian University in Sudbury.
Transportation
We provide passenger van transport from communities between Sudbury and Toronto to and from White Buffalo, at prearranged pickup spots at each location. If you’d like to drive yourself, we have plenty of free parking,
Food
We love to eat! And we love to cook. And some of you may pitch in to both. Three daily meals, snacks all day.
Accomodation
Bring a sleeping bag, pillow and sleepwear. Our session sizes are a maximum of 12 participants, so plenty of space to claim your spot — in the lodge, on the covered deck, under the trees in a shelter we build together.
We have two indoor washrooms; one has a shower, and acres of forest.
Code of Conduct
Participants will be expected to be respectful to each other and follow the rules, which will be published before travel. Those unable to comply will be removed from the project.
More about White Buffalo on our Home Page