Faculty and staff at Trent University recently teamed up with the Anne Frank House of Amsterdam, for a video training workshop with the Free2Choose-Create program, the first of its kind in North America.

The Free2Choose-Create program is a concept developed by the Anne Frank House in which young people from different regions and countries are brought together to discuss human rights and to create small video clips about specific human rights dilemmas in their countries.

The Anne Frank House led the training session where a team from Trent University created a video focused on the recently passed anti-terrorism legislation (Bill C-51) which critics say targets environmentalists and Indigenous peoples who oppose pipelines and environmental degradation. The question posed was “Should the government have the right to access your e-mails and social media?”

“This is special for us as this is the first Free2Choose-Create film produced in Canada, adding to a long list countries around the world where this project has already been implemented,” said Julie Couture of the Anne Frank House. “This workshop provided tools for students and teachers to explore tensions in building respectful relationships in society. Hopefully many more videos will be created in the near future to increase possible discussions.”

Tasha Beeds, a Ph.D. candidate in Indigenous Studies and one of the participants of the workshop said, “For me, as an Indigenous student and as an Indigenous woman, this workshop opened up another tool for empowerment. It is a powerful medium with which to continue to assert our voice.”

Professor Lynne Davis from the Indigenous Studies program at Trent and participant of the workshop added, “We work on issues related to Indigenous rights all the time. These videos provide important tools for stimulating classroom and public discussion on relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.”

The videos can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hMnRWM5-Dc&list=PLmepEX8W6aF6PFFYWbcNiih4WarV7MFJ1

The training was sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies, the Gilbert Monture Oral History Lab and Nozhem: First Peoples Performance Space.