Self-defence program aims to build confidence in Indigenous women

A free program at the Uni‐ versity of Winnipeg is offer‐ ing self-defence classes to Indigenous women as a way to build confidence and personal safety.

Tina Robinson from Nisich‐ awayasihk Cree Nation is three classes into her training.

"My goal is to make sure I'm safe and confident when I'm out and about alone," she said.

"Personally as an Indige‐ nous woman in this day and age with all of the violence that we experience, I feel that it is very important for us to protect ourselves in a good way."

She said self defence is not about violence but about sim‐ ply being able to do everyday things, like walking to a bus stop after dark, with less wor‐ ry about safety.

"We should be able to this and just have those tools and skills to protect ourselves if anything should happen."

WATCH | Self-defence class aims to empower In‐ digenous women:

Angeline Nelson, director of community learning and engagement for the Universi‐ ty of Winnipeg, said build‐ ing skills is the purpose of the program.

"We'll have women coming in and learning the basics of self defence to feel empow‐ ered in who they are," she said.

Nelson said the program, which began in 2018, was cre‐ ated because of growing awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

"We thought about our re‐ sponse and how we wanted to engage the community and support the community and we hadn't seen a lot of self defence [classes]," she said.

These classes can be a part of healing and reclaiming, Nel‐ son said.

"Some of the women and girls who enrol in this pro‐ gram have already experi‐ enced violence, and they're here because they feel like their power was taken away," she said.

"They want to feel empow‐ ered and they want to build up their confidence to feel safe again."

Jiu-jitsu instructor Jason Parenteau teaches the course and said some of the things they train are mental aware‐ ness, building confidence, and how to address situa‐ tions like a strike or attack.

"We want to teach them good techniques that will help them," he said.

Parenteau said this course is specifically focused on de‐ fending oneself in dangerous situations and how to escape.

"These techniques are im‐ portant to understand to help themselves to be safe, to escape the situation that could escalate."