Bridging the social distance between Indigenous and newcomer youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploration of identities and relationship building through online and arts-based methods

Abstract

Despite ongoing relationship building efforts at the community level, Indigenous and immigrant and refugee newcomer communities in Canada continue to experience a fractured relationship characterized by misperceptions, misunderstandings and tension. One of the predominant reasons for this ongoing fractured relationship is the lack of community-driven, decolonial information that each community receives about the other. This project sought to respond to this reality, by exploring the experience of an online relationship building Talking Circle and video-making process, where Indigenous and newcomer youth reflected on their identities as newcomer or Indigenous peoples and the possibilities for transformed relationships between both communities. The video that was created then went on to be shared with Indigenous and newcomer serving organizations within Winnipeg and was posted free online, becoming a potential community-driven, decolonial relationship building resource for community members to access. This project was guided by an Indigenous research paradigm, as well as the visiting way, storytelling and arts-based methodologies. Overall, this project found an imbalance in perceptions between both communities, alongside relationship building possibilities within increasing opportunities for community-driven, decolonial information to be transferred, shared minority experiences and cultural strengths, and the need for both formal and informal relationship building opportunities. Several key implications for social work practice are discussed and recommendations for bridging relations between Indigenous and newcomer communities are proposed.