Students at John Paul II COllegiate participated in Violence Prevention Week. (submitted/Melissa Fuhr)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Recognizing signs

JP II students spread awareness, honour teacher during Violence Prevention Week

Dec 6, 2021 | 5:00 AM

Students at John Paull II Collegiate in North Battleford took part in a cause, dear to several of their peers over the past week.

From Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 as part of Violence Prevention Week, several awareness activities took place at the catholic high school. This included info sessions and quizzes, some of which were made available to staff, and a display in the school hallway.

(Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW)

The week also served as an opportunity to honour Charlene Aubichon, who had taught some of the students involved. Aubichon tragically died this fall at the hands of her estranged husband in Meadow Lake.

Grade 12 student Tenille Moyah had her as a teacher in the eighth grade. She said that both she and other students felt an instant connection to Aubichon and felt comfortable in coming to her with anything.

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‘She was always making jokes, she had a warm, welcoming spirit,” Moyah said. “It felt like a home in her classroom,”

Moyah said it was meaningful to hear that her former teacher’s family had blessed the school’s awareness and fundraising efforts, which will continue onto this coming week. A hat day is planned, with all proceeds going to Aubichon’s children.

“I always looked up to her,” Moyah said. “She was a very good person and was kind to everybody. You could tell it was a good day when Charlene was around.”

Grade 11 student Kenisha Mitsuing said they had been planning this since early September and that it was important to have students like Moyah involved, who had that previous connection to Aubichon. She added that their hope is to help make as many people as possible aware of interpersonal violence.

“Even if we can change one person’s life, that’s our goal,” Mistuing said.

Through participating this week, she felt that most people have no idea how prevalent of an issue it is.

“People just think it happens in the movies, books, and stuff like that,” she said. “Yet, I bet there’s many case here in the Battlefords that don’t get talked about.”

Battlefords RCMP has attended to multiple instances of alleged domestic assault in the past month.

Counsellor Melissa Fuhr said they focused specifically on interpersonal violence, especially involved with dating. Saskatchewan had the highest rate of intimate partner violence among all provinces in 2017-2018 and Fuhr said there’s many signs in a relationship that can seem loving, but actually, be unhealthy.

“Because the rates for higher for young people, especially young females, it’s important to recognize the difference between love and unhealthy love, as they can get blurred sometimes,” she said.

“This way, they can go forward knowing what [interpersonal violence] sounds, looks and feels like.”

Fuhr added that when people know how to keep themselves safe, they can keep others safe as well. It’s also a reminder to understand that the issue can manifest from many places.

“Everybody is vulnerable to it, we’re all human and we’re all susceptible to unhealthy behavior,” Fuhr said.

More information on events that took place across the province over the past week can be found online.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW