Siblings create 'We Matter' campaign for Indigenous youth

Tunchai Redvers, and her brother Kelvin, decided to create a multi-media campaign for indigenous youth this year, after reading about the crisis in Attwapiskat, where more than 100 people have tried to take their own lives.

Their message is simple:to tell Indigenous youth across Canada that their lives matter through a collection of short inspirational videos that share messages of hope and love from people who have been there. The campaign is called We Matter.

Anyone can upload a short video message, art, storiesor poetrydirectly to theirwebsite,

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Redvers, a Wilfrid Laurier student, and her brother Kelvin, a film maker in Vancouver, grew up in what she describes as anisolatedcommunity in the NorthwestTerritories.

She says the hardships that Indigenous youth face arenot foreign to them.

"Speaking through my own experience, it can be extremely lonely and hopeless when you are in those young years," RedverstoldCraig Norris, host ofCBC'sThe Morning Edition,on Wednesday.

"You really trulyfeel like nothing is going to get better, that tomorrow doesn't look that bright and so I think it really comes down to a raw sense of hopelessness,"

They started working on the idea for 'We Matter' back in March and useda similar platform like the 'It Gets Better' project in the U.S.

Overwhelming response

Since the campaign'slaunch in October, 'We Matter' hasreached over one million people through social media and have received hundreds of thousands of shares and Facebookmessages.

"We have received emails and Facebook messagesof people in communities saying, 'Thank you for reminding me that my life matters'," said Redvers.

Redversand her brother want to make sure that all Indigenous youth receive the message.

They are in the process of getting USB sticks withvideos fromtheir website to Indigenous communities with pooror no internetconnection.