March 2026 Blog
In 2010, there was a growing awareness of a crisis with indigenous youth in Alberta – specifically, a suicide crisis. It was a serious problem that for years had been set aside, to be dealt with at a later date. The statistics available in 2010 clearly indicated that it was not a problem that could be ignored any longer. Native youth were killing themselves in record numbers. It was a problem that needed to be addressed, not someday down the road, but immediately.
But what to do? How could you even go about starting any kind of dialogue about a situation that no one was really prepared to talk about in the first place? It was at this rather frantic time that Stardale was contacted and invited to create some kind of presentation that could serve as a springboard for meaningful discussion.
A writer was engaged – not an “expert” on First Nations culture, but a playwright, who was able to honour the voices of the girls in the Stardale program, and help them tell their very difficult stories. Working patiently over the course of a winter, a script for a presentation emerged.
It was performed in its original format only once, for an audience of 400 -- a few thousand more live-streaming. The audience was comprised of professionals and stakeholders involved with indigenous culture and youth. The presence of twenty-five adolescent indigenous girls on a small stage was in itself a very strong statement. Their familiarity with suicide took the problem from the abstract to the personal. It felt like a catalyst for change.
Since that initial performance, the larger piece was scaled down for four voices. Three Stardale girls along with a narrator did numerous presentations for various groups in Calgary and beyond. During that time, from the laboratory of our experience presenting this work and given the nature of audience feedback, Stardale began looking at ways of reaching a larger number of people to get involved with this ongoing crisis.
Our numbers are small and our resources are limited. Yet if we could offer the benefit of our experience with other interested parties, surely we would be able to help facilitate a larger network of agencies and individuals to help address this continuing crisis among indigenous youth.
To this end, we have now developed an Indigenous Youth Suicide Prevention Curriculum. Because our curriculum was based on the input of the girls in the Stardale Program, it is obviously culturally sensitive and respectful to the values of their various Indigenous communities. The goal always is to provide knowledge and expertise to help support Indigenous youth and promote safe and informed communities.
Please visit The Stardale Curriculum at www.stardalegroup.com.
WRITTEN BY: EUGENE STICKLAND