Stardale Women's Group

Stardale has been building momentum in the area of social justice and inclusion, as well as delivering services pertaining to the Missing and Murdered Women and Girls for a long time. In response to the Reclaiming Power and Place report, Stardale is strategizing a project entitled, “The Road”, as it relates to the many females who have gone missing on the Yellowhead Highway or what is known as the “Trail of Tears”. “The Road” will allow for healing to take place through arts and culture, while acknowledging our women and girls are sacred.

Stardale has been igniting change through social innovation. As a grassroots charity, we address complex issues that affect Urban Indigenous girl’s lives through a cultural lens. Upon carefully defining the needs of the girls within the community, we seek unique and creative ways to meet them, thus implementing preventative practices that respond to those unmet needs. Stardale has  initiated the project “The Road”, that takes a holistic view of storytelling through a performance creation & a video documentary. The approach endeavoured to interconnect urban girls from Stardale programming to women who have lived experiences, which they will share with the girls to assist the girls in co-creating a production that will educate and inform audiences on the interpretations / reflections of violence & trauma.

The narratives which the girls describe have built upon the resiliency of each group member.  A cultural mirror was developed as the girls explored and created a piece that may be used as a methodology to heal themselves, through interpretative art. The story telling designs included the “Two world view” (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) with the concept of translating the performance productions for a variety of audiences. This genre of cultural diversity is developing at an accelerated rate, and reflects the growing need in our society for communication and reconciliation.