November 8, 2016
CSFS and Lake Babine Nation partnered to bring NFL Football champ JR LaRose to Burns Lake on November 7th. This initiative arose from the Sexualized Violence Healing Forum recently held in Burns Lake, where community representatives noted that men are needed in conversations around violence against women in order to truly employ a holistic approach.
JR sat down with Mary Teegee and talked about his first hand experiences with family violence involving abuse he endured, as well as his sister, and his mother who attended residential school. JR reflected on how these life experiences brought him to where he is today, in a position to address violence and its root causes.
"One of the things that I’ve learned is to not be silent and hold all that hurt inside. When I’ve held all that hurt inside, I’ve hurt more people. The only way we can heal is to talk about it." JR LaRose
When asked about young men who may be prone to using violence. JR was very direct in saying; "Don’t be afraid to ask for help." When he came to a place in his own healing journey where he was able to ask for help, he was able to move forward to address the pain he suffered as a result of the abuse he endured, and the abuse he witnessed toward his mother and sister.
“Being man enough to ask for help is a really good message for our young men.” Mary Teegee
JR went on to say that communities need more programming for the perpetrators of violence. If we continue to just go through the motions with the justice system and never look at rehabilitation to help the perpetrator, the same individuals will keep returning to the communities and the cycle of violence will continue.
JR is a 2011 Grey Cup champion who was born and raised in Edmonton Alberta and is a proud member of One Arrow First Nation. Growing up in Edmonton’s inner city low income housing without his father didn’t exactly help set him up for success, but it did give him the drive to succeed. JR is a proud family man and an accomplished international speaker who helps to create awareness around the complex issues surrounding violence against women in our communities.
We always enjoy having JR visit our communities and we send a big mussi cho his way - for coming out and sharing his good words with us!
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Last modified: Wednesday 03-Apr-24 12:36:29 PDT
CSFS gratefully acknowledges Noeleen McQuary, the artisan who created the traditional Carrier baskets used in the CSFS branding on this webpage, and in other print and online media.
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