‘Gang culture is not Cree culture’: Maskwacis ads urge First Nations youth to resist life of crime

The First Nations that make up Maskwacis, about 80 kilometres south of Edmonton, have launched an ad campaign called "Change your Colours," speaking directly to their young people.

A central Alberta First Nation that has been plagued by violence for decades has launched an initiative aiming to protect Indigenous youth from the pressures of gang life, both on and off reserve.

The First Nations that make up Maskwacis, about 80 km south of Edmonton, have launched an advertising campaign called “Change your Colours,” speaking directly to their young people.

“We’re all trying to fight for our kid’s attention and so that’s why this is so important,” said Samson Cree Nation Chief Vern Saddleback, adding gangs don’t have boundaries.

“We have a high population of Maskwacis people that live in the Edmonton area, and we’re always trying to figure out how to bring support to our people in the Edmonton region.”

The group said the initiative is more than a campaign — it’s a call to action, a reclamation of culture, and a message of healing for a generation at a crossroads.

“Let this be a reminder to each one of us that we need to bring our babies home, that they need to be loved,”  said Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, who is from Michel First Nation and has spent much of her adult life working to improve the lives of First Nations peoples.

“We need to invest in families, we need to ensure that Nations and communities have the investment, the resources needed so that families thrive — so that our economies thrive, so that there is food in the fridge for these babies.”

The campaign features stylized Cree syllabics, vibrant artwork, and traditional regalia on Edmonton Transit Service LRT train cars and billboards across Edmonton, Wetaskiwin, and Camrose.