My name is Natasha Broadent. I am 15 years old and I live in Manitou Rapids.

I used to live in a southern city named London Ontario, I liked living there but mostly because of the people there like my friends and family. Our family has always wanted to move north but we never really put enough enough. We moved because of my dads family, My dad was part of the 60s Scoop and never met his parents, him and my mom vigorously searched for any of his family, it was a real struggle for my dad because he often would fall into the belief that they did not want him. After a few years my dad found his mom in Rainy River First Nations. It was a very emotional reunite and we decided as family to move up to Manitou to reconnect with the family and who we are as aboriginal people. It was hard to leave everything behind and have a brand new environment, but I do not regret it. Living here and being a youth means I get to see first hand on what my peers are going through. They are wonderful people filled with laughter and happiness, but they still have immense amount of trauma and mental health issues, the worst part is that no one listens to these youth, they often turn to unhealthy resources like drugs, alcohol and self harm. I noticed this and new that all they wanted was to be somewhere where they are not judged and they are not looked down upon, they just want to be loved and accepted. I was determined to do what I can to help them.