Shield Your Rights

Shield Your Rights is a technology-based project involving six Indigenous youth from across Ontario, who collaborate to design a digital game that addresses youth’s rights when dealing with the police. The game incorporates the Seven Grandfathers’ Teachings, guiding principles for many Indigenous cultures.

Funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario, the project develops an idea generated during the 2017 Aboriginal Youth Designing a Better Justice System conference. It responds to the calls to action in Feathers of Hope: A First Nations Youth Action Plan and the Feathers of Hope: Justice and Juries Report.

Since May of 2019, the youth have gathered in Toronto every few months to refine and articulate their ideas for this game-based learning tool—starting with the plot of the game, its design, and the legal knowledge that they want to share with the players. Assisted by public legal education experts, lawyers, Elders, game designers and developers, the youth work to ensure that their proposed game will be used effectively as a public legal education tool by Indigenous youth across Ontario.