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-= Show summaries - Fourth Season =-
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Young people are inundated with images in the media of famous people they are supposed to think of as heroes. But who are the real heroes for our youth? This episode of Venturing Forth will explore the theme of finding a hero close to home – amongst your own family. We’ll visit two young people who are making their dreams come true by following in the footsteps of their heroes: their parents.
There is a shift occurring in Indian country. Leadership is being passed on to the next generation. Are young people prepared to take on the battles and issues that our parents began? How do our youth feel about hot topics like the First Nations Governance Act? In this episode, Venturing Forth will profile young artists and activists at a grass-roots level, a young person in training in a band council structure, and a young politician at the provincial level.
On-Reserve, Off-Reserve, Treaty, Metis, Status, Non-Status, Inuit, and last but not least - Bill C-31 or Reinstated Indians. What do all these titles mean for our rights as Aboriginal people? Since 1985 over 120,000 people have been reinstated under Bill C-31. The effects of that bill are just now starting to be felt, and will worsen in the near future. Certain Bands have adopted rules under Bill C-31 that will ensure that more and more people born to Registered Indians will not be entitled to be registered themselves. This means that different classes of Native people will be formed, some with more rights than others.
Almost one million young aboriginal Canadians will enter the workforce by the year 2006. The numbers raise hopes for the future of aboriginal populations-and some difficult questions. Where will today's young aboriginals work and how will they get trained? And in this age of technology colonialism, how will they gain, or retain cultural traditions and language? In light of the fact that many aboriginal communities have lost their language, or are in danger of doing so, the challenges are real indeed. Some communities have gone as far as mandating aboriginal language immersion from grades one to three. Elders in those communities say they are working today for the benefit of seven generations in the future. Other communities have implemented innovative youth training programs. In this edition of Venturing Forth, we look at some of tWhether you’re a painter, a musician, a writer, or a filmmaker; to be successful one has to realize that your discipline is a business like any other. You have to know how to handle the ins and outs of the art world biz. The ones that take the business end of things seriously usually achieve greater success, or at least aren’t taken advantage of. The ones that don’t do this may achieve some level of success, but can it be a lasting one?
The Atlantic Provinces have been in the news media for the last decade surrounding issues of Native logging and fishing rights. Some battles have been lost, others won. But what is being done to ensure a sustainable future for the generations to come? This episode of Venturing Forth will take a look at the work that some youth are doing to create sustainable development amongst their communities. We will visit some young business people who are looking to entrepreneurship as the way to a better life for themselves. We visit a summer camp where kids learn the ins and outs of starting a business, and we profile a young man who has already been successful at starting his own business.
All of our Native cultures have experienced losses in the traditional aspects of our lives. But on the West Coast in particular, the cultural resurgence is strong amongst the young people. These are cultures rich in teachings such as songs, dances, stories, food, and traditional crafts such as weaving. It is the teaching of these traditions that will ensure the survival of the culture for generations to come. This episode of Venturing Forth will profile two young people who have chosen to concentrate their lives on carrying on their culture and traditions. We will go to a cultural camp in Koeye, BC – part of the Heiltsuk Nation’s traditional territory, where kids learn the songs and dances of their people, and are taught by a passionate young man. We’ll also profile a young woman – a weaver who taught her mother a lot of what she knows.
In this day and age, finding your calling means leaving your home community for school or a career. For many youth this means trading in at the very least a connection to your community, and at the most; the total loss of your language and culture. It’s a huge trade-off, and one that more youth are making. Some are successful, and others fall through the cracks. For those that choose to live their life with one foot in two different worlds, the rewards and challenges are great. This episode of Venturing Forth will follow youth who are trying to balance life in two worlds. We will talk with youth who have achieved amazing success, and others who have fallen through the cracks. We will follow them to where they can connect with their culture in an urban setting, and we will hear about their home community to understand where they come from. 
The Indian Posse, the Manitoba Warriors, and Posse Killers are just a few of the gangs that have spread across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. The gangs that started out in the rough neighbourhoods of Winnipeg, Regina, and Edmonton are growing and finding new members on reserves and prisons. Penitentiaries like Stony Mountain in Manitoba have a high population of Aboriginal people and many of them are youth. 
When Nunavut was created, the new Nunavut government adopted the Bathurst Mandate in 1999 which outlined the goals of their nation over the course of a 5 and 20 year period. These are goals that cover health, economic, and social issues. For young people who still embrace traditions, grasping onto technology is a means of propelling themselves to a successful future. Can the youth assist in the success of the people of Nunavut by further embracing technology? Venturing Forth will meet young entrepreneurs and students to find out how government is doing on its initiatives, and what they are doing to take hold of their dreams. We will also see how technology is changing their lives and how life has changed for them in our country’s newest territory.
What does it mean to be a Metis youth? Metis youth face the same challenges and obstacles as Aboriginal youth, but do not have access to the same benefits that status Aboriginal youth have. In addition to the challenges of racism, health, and education issues; the Metis youth face the lateral oppression of other Aboriginal Peoples. There are Metis organizations that are working towards improving access to services and education for Metis youth. There are also schools such as the Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatchewan where a student can learn the Red River jig and the Michif language for university credits. There are plenty of organizations and schools to help Metis youth with the struggle of identity, but are they doing the job? This episode of Venturing Forth will take a look at the pride that some young Metis role models feel in their culture and who have found a strong sense of identity despite what the government and society has done to push the Metis out. We will also examine the issues of identity crisis that the Metis face and how various youth approach the question of what it means to be young and Metis.
It is felt by many that education is the single most important issue facing Aboriginal people. The education systems both on and off reserve are failing our people. Young people are dropping out of school every day and it’s not easy to return. Lack of education and lack of literacy are barriers to employment. What is wrong? How do we make it better? There are many programs that are set up specifically for Native students such as the Institute of Indigenous Government, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, and UBC’s First Nations House of Learning. But some feel that programs that are designed specifically for Native people are designed for students to pass, not for them to learn. 
There are many issues that plague the health of First Nations people. Suicide; HIV and AIDS; diabetes; substance abuse; physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; lack of services; and lack of health education are to name just a few. All of these issues are compounded by the fact that half of the First Nations population lives in remote communities away from adequate health services. HIV and AIDS are being introduced into small communities as highways are built and travel to major centres increases. As sexual issues are often taboo in small places, sexual health and sex education are not prominent topics. In this episode of Venturing Forth, we meet a young man who is taking a first hand approach to educating other young people about the consequences of certain activities. He travels to remote communities to spread the word about sexual health, HIV and AIDS, and he does so in his own unique way while meeting with local people who are also on their way to making positive changes for themselves and their communities. Together they believe that sex education and sexual self-esteem are the way to preventing the rise of HIV and AIDS cases amongst Aboriginal youth. 
We are living in drastically different times than one generation ago. This is a different generation of youth who face different challenges than those of their parents. More and more young people are choosing to leave the old way of life behind. The rapid change in lifestyle over only a few generations has created a nation-wide identity crisis for Aboriginal youth today. Many young people grow up disconnected from their culture, and many begin a journey of discovering their roots late in life. For some this is a purposeful quest, for others, discovering your identity as an Aboriginal person happens all by itself.