BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

A young aboriginal woman answers the phone and is told by an employee of the local health centre that she may have come in contact with someone with HIV/AIDS. Terrified, she schedules an appointment to be tested for the virus that afternoon.

This is the opening scene of a film called Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself, released by the Union of Ontario Indians on DVD in December.

The film follows the young woman through the rest of her day, examining her fears and the sudden prejudice she encounters. It ends when she goes in to receive the diagnostic test.

“We just wanted to show that it could be anybody. Look at this girl. She has an OK house and she looks young and healthy, but she got a call. It’s the reality,” said Union of Ontario Indians HIV/AIDS co-ordinator Jody Cotter, who wrote the script.

Interlaced with the fictional narrative are interviews with aboriginal HIV/AIDS educators and community leaders, including Anishinabek Nation Grand Council chief John Beaucage. The film also includes demonstrations of safe sex and injection drug practices.

Cotter, a member of the Nipissing First Nation, is responsible for developing culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention material for 42 First Nations belonging to the Union of Ontario Indians.

“There have been some manuals and games developed, but I wanted something to be a tool for them to use in their community when I couldn’t be there myself,” she said.

“It covers all the basics about HIV/AIDS and examines all the topics that would arise in First Nations. I hope it will get the message across, especially with using First Nations people in the movie.”

Cotter had already filmed some of the content herself using a digital videocamera when she approached North Bay film producer Ed Regan for help.

Regan advised her to add the fictional sequence about the young woman, did some of the filming and put together the final product.

“The girl shown in the film was my summer student, Suzanne Campeau,” said Cotter.

“She’s from the Nipissing First Nation like me. It kind of worked out well because she’s a good actor.”

Condoms

The film shows a group of youth demonstrating how to use condoms and dental dams. Although the youth dissolve into giggles at times, Cotter said their participation went a long way to show viewers how easy it is practice safe sex.

“They were funny. They did a good job. I think it was very valuable for people to see the youth doing it. Older people are sometimes shyer than younger people. But if a younger person isn’t afraid of condoms, why should I be?”

Later in the film, a public health nurse shows some of the clean drug paraph ernalia the health unit gives out to injection drug users to reduce their chances of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. One key message Cotter wanted to get across was that even if someone is mired in a drug or alcohol addiction, they can still be responsible to their community by doing all they can to avoid infection.

Cotter distributed 5,000 of the DVDs with the Union of Ontario Indians’ monthly newspaper, Anishinabek News and sent copies to fellow aboriginal HIV/AIDS educators in Ontario.

She has also submitted it to several conferences and film festivals, including AIDS 2008, an international HIV/AIDS conference being held in August in Mexico City.

The HIV/AIDS rates among aboriginal people in Canada is startlingly high, said Cotter.

According to Health Canada, aboriginal people represent 3.3 per cent of the Canadian population, but in 2002, they represented five to eight per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country, and six to 12 per cent of new HIV infections.

Many of the infections can be attributed to injection drug use, which is prevalent in aboriginal communities, Cotter said. People who are under the influence of drugs and alcohol are also more likely to engage in unprotected sex, another risk factor for HIV/AIDS, she said.

According to Cotter, social problems such as drug and alcohol use are the legacy of residential school abuse.

“A lot of residential school survivors are alcoholics and some were sexually abused. When they were raising their own kids, some of the kids were sexually abused and became alcoholics themselves,” she said.

“With the video, I wanted to instill some pride into aboriginal people. I wanted the DVD to be positive, but also show the realities of what’s happening in our First Nations. I wanted to show why this is happening because of our past as well.”

www.anishinabek.ca