Garden River First Nation’s Nevaeh Pine is feeling wiped out after a hectic week.
The 15-year-old White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School student earned a second-place finish in a national speaking competition and organized a special event at her high school to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people.
Pine managed to do all of this — while being followed around by a film crew as the subject of a forthcoming documentary series set to air on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network — within a time frame of just three days.
“I’m exhausted, but it’s a good exhausted,” said Pine, speaking with SooToday from White Pines Friday. “It was hectic, but it was amazing. I knew what I was doing was right, and it was making an impact — and I’m so honoured to have these opportunities and have the opportunity to let my voice be heard.”
On Tuesday, Pine earned second place Speaker’s Idol, a Canada-wide speech contest hosted by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies. She was chosen as one of 12 finalists, competing against participants from Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.
Pine’s speech focused on the Every Child Matters movement, which gained traction across Canada after Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Nation used ground-penetrating radar to find what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
“I knew I needed to make my voice heard, and I knew Speaker’s Idol would be an amazing platform for that,” said Pine. “I knew it would be an amazing idea to help educate on…all the mass graves, because to this day, some people still don’t know about it.
“I thought if I do my speech on this, I can help spread awareness on that.”
The Grade 10 student also organized an event at White Pines May 5 in order to recognize the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited People (MMIWG2S).
A school-wide assembly featured drummers and speakers prior to placing hand-made MMIWG2S signage on display along Trunk Road.
“We drummed all the way out to the highway and brought student-made posters to put out on the highway so people can see them, and also recognize that May 5 is the national day of awareness and action for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited peoples of Canada,” she said.
Pine will be featured in an episode of Warrior Up!, a documentary-style series highlighting 13 Indigenous from across Canada and the United States. The series will premiere on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in late 2023.
A film crew followed Pine around the area for three days, capturing footage of her training at Steel City MMA and preparing for both Speaker’s Idol and the school-wide assembly in recognition of the national day of awareness for MMIWG2S.
Pine, who has been named as next year’s Indigenous student trustee and Northern Indigenous Youth Council chair for the Algoma District School Board, also claimed first place for a MMIWG2S-related speech during a provincial public speaking competition hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion in Niagara Falls back in 2019.
“I’m an advocate for human rights, so every competition I enter, every speech I write is not for the winning, the glory. It’s for spreading awareness and educating and making my voice heard, and telling people all over that this is the scary truth that Indigenous women in Canada face,” Pine said.
Video of Pine's speech at Speaker's Idol can be seen here.