Anishnabeg teen calls on her peers to end violence, stigma of gender inequality

Mia Tenascosaid her childhood was forever changed in 2008, when two young women from her community went missing Maisy Odjick, 16,and Shannon Alexander, 17.

As their families searched for answers, Tenascoremembers how fear took overthe KitiganZibiAnishnabeg First Nation, puttinganend to carefree afternoons in her backyard with her sister.

Ten years later,Maisyand Shannon are still missing.

"It definitely put a scar on our reserve. Even now, it's still there and we're still afraid of going out. So I definitely think it had a huge impact on everybody."

As a teenager, in an effort to connect with her Indigenous roots, Tenascofelt inspired to write about Maisy and Shannon, and themark their disappearance left on her family.

"Nobody was really talking about it anymore and it hadn't been very long either. So I was very driven to write a poem to just express how I felt and express that fear that was there in 2008."

With the16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence coming to an endonDec. 10,Tenasco, now a student at Quebec High School in Quebec City,shared her story withAlison Brunette, host ofCBCQuebec'sBreakaway.

You performed that poem in the form of a slam in front of your high school. How didyour fellow students react to it?

Well it was more or less the teachers that understood it a lot. They felt really impacted by it,and they said 'Mia it was a really good poem'.

It really hit my heart.I understand also that a lot of kids, they're kind of ignorant, so they don't necessarily know what was going on and I don't judge them for that.

I didn't evenknow what was going on before I wrote the poem. So I just understood that the teachers got it, the people in power got itand they understood what I was trying to say.

That poem eventually became part of a short video, with the National Film Board.[The film is available to teachers across Canada to share with their students.]

In the video, youlet yourself become quite vulnerable when you're talking about your ancestors who were subjected to residential schools. Why was it so important for you to be open and honest in that way?

I knew that so many people were goingto see it, andthere are so many youth that keep that kind of feeling inside. I'm privileged enough to not have lived through that kind of intergenerational trauma that a lot of kids my age have.

They have to deal with that for the rest of their lives.

And for me it was just important to showthem that this is the kind of pain that I feel for somebody who has seen this firsthand, but who hasn't gotten the chance to talk to somebodyabout residential schools, or talk about someone that's gone missing in their family.

It's something that people need to see and really considerthis is the kind of pain that Indigenous Peoples are going through.

It's still there. It's not disappearing and there's noreconciliation right now that's going forward. But I find we're trying very hard to do that.

And that's whatI'm pushing foras a youth.I hope that the youth of my people and the youth of everybody here in Quebec can see that, because we need everybody to understand.

You speak often about your mother in your poem and about how she protected you when you were younger. Can you tell us more about how she has become a role model for you?

She's my inspiration. I know she's gonna hear this and think how cheesy it is, but really she's inspired me throughout my whole childhood. She's made me the person that I am today because of how strong she is and how much she was brought up inthat kind of pain.

Her ancestors went to residential schools and that trauma carried onto her family. The fact that she could rise above that and teach me and my sister how to be better people and how to how to put our voices out there is what inspires me every single day.

We're speaking to you on the anniversary of the deadly mass shooting at colePolytechnique,in December1989. You weren't even born then, but you've taken up the torch in the hopes of ending violence against women. What do you think young teens like yourself can do?

We really need totalk about it within our education system. There needs to be a time and a place for us to talk about these kinds of issues.

And I think it should start at the high school level because during that time, I feel like there's a sentiment that women are vulnerableand inferior.

Ifeel like that stigma should stop and we should teach it at a pretty early age so that boys and girls can understand that, understand we are equal and that we should not be treated unfairly or get killed because of our genders.

Thisyear's theme for the16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is #MYActionsMatter. It invites people to take concrete steps to speak up against acts of gender-based violence.Do you have examples of actions that you take at your school and in your life?

I just try to put myself out there and I don't think I'm less of a person thananymale.

I think that I can do as much as they can. I think that I push for what I need to push for, and if I want to do somethingI'm going to do it. I'm not going to be put down by any person in power who is male.

If I want to be that person in power, if I want to do the things I want to do, thenI'm going to do them and I should not be treated asinferior because I'm a woman. That makes no sense to me as to why women would feel like that because of these men.

This interviewhas beenedited for lengthand clarity. You can hear the full interview by clicking here.