LandBack Celebration

Caldwell First Nation welcomes a new chapter

By Mark Brown August 19, 2024

 

Caldwell First Nation marked a turning point for its people with a celebration over the weekend.

A Land Back and cultural event was held on Saturday, to welcome families who have moved back to Canada's southernmost First Nation, and leave out a welcome for those who may soon be moving back.

Chief Mary Duckworth said Saturday's celebration is the start of a new chapter in the life of Caldwell First Nation.

"It took years of strong leadership and enduring obstacles on our path home," said Duckworth. "If not for our ancestors and leaders, we would not be standing here on our land now. In ceremonies, songs, and stories, and most of all through our nationhood, we are sharing our gratitude to the Creator and to all who have come before us and contributed to saving our nation and creating a new homeland."

The celebration completed the journey of ten people -- eight adults and two children -- who began returning home on July 20. By September, 58 people are expected to return to the community.

Caldwell First Nation, which has existed since 1790, finally had a place to call home when it acquired land near Point Pelee in Leamington in 2020.  Funding for development was granted in November 2021.  Since then, new net-zero homes have been built, along with new street signs.

The First Nation persevered through war, arson, racism, the residential school system, the Sixties Scoop, and other challenges.

"This small yet strong nation persevered, meeting around kitchen tables, writing letters, and testifying to the federal government," read a release from Caldwell First Nation. "We set aside small amounts of money for our dream and, with the advocacy and leadership of Chief Carl Johnson and his son Larry Johnson, we eventually, some 230 years later, won a 198-acre small piece of our original homelands back by ratifying a land claim settlement for Point Pelee with Canada in 2011 for $105-million."

Duckworth said that Saturday's ceremony brought the story of the First Nation full circle.

"We have come through a devastating experience of land loss at the hands of colonial powers and have restored our land and our homes," said Duckworth. "Land Back is a deeply meaningful and important history for everyone who lives in Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent, and Elgin County to understand."

SOURCE: https://cknxnewstoday.ca/chatham/news/2024/08/19/caldwell-first-nation-welcomes-a-new-chapter

 

Indigenous women recognized for children’s welfare work

 www.wellingtonadvertiser.com /indigenous-women-recognized-for-childrens-welfare-work/

Robin George 7/24/2024 

And they took away more than just culture, Stewart said – “They disposed of everything. Family. Teachings. Land. Inheritance.”

---

GUELPH – Family and Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington County (FCSGW) has recognized three Indigenous women for their work in child welfare advocacy.

Tauni Sheldon, Donna Dubie and Wendy Stewart were presented with FCSGW’s Award of Merit on June 20. 

“The invaluable contributions of these Indigenous leaders and unwavering dedication to their communities serves as an inspiration to us all,” FCSGW officials state.  

“This is the first time in local history Indigenous providers have been recognized for our child welfare advocacy,” Stewart said.

Sheldon, Dubie and Stewart advocate for Indigenous children involved with child welfare societies across Ontario. They are not agents of family and children’s services but independent providers who offer culturally appropriate support to Indigenous families.

Inuit advocacy

Sheldon lives in Ospringe and is Inuk from Nunavut and Northern Quebec, a Sixties Scoop survivor, and a cultural advisor with Kamatsiarniq. 

Sixties Scoop refers to the removal of tens of thousands of Indigenous children from their families into the Canadian child welfare system. 

Kamatsiarniq translates to “a place where Inuit are welcome” and is a child welfare program at Tunjasuvvingat Inuit, a non-profit service provider. 

Sheldon oversees Inuit culture with families, supports Inuit families through navigating the child welfare system and guides children’s aid societies regarding Inuit culture and Inuit rights. 

“Its important for Inuit to have that advocacy and support,” Sheldon said, “especially as none of us are on our traditional lands” in southern Ontario. 

Tauni said Inuit are often swept under a pan-Indigenous approach, or assumed to be First Nations, instead of recognized as a distinct Indigenous group. 

When Inuit are sent to Ontario from northern Canada through the child welfare system, she said it’s important the children “remain connected to who they are as Inuit.” 

Sheldon said she “has that fire to try and be that voice for people who don’t have their voice or don’t know what to do,” because she knows how it feels to be a voiceless child.

Her family and her adoptive family are “still trying to understand the Sixties Scoop.”

“For my birth mother, it was very traumatic,” she said. Sheldon’s birth mother had arranged for a traditional Inuit adoption, but instead Sheldon was “scooped” and taken away to Ontario. 

“I was a baby when I was apprehended” and at that time, there weren’t Indigenous people in the system who could advocate for her, Sheldon said.

After decades apart, Sheldon reconnected with her mother and said they now have a loving relationship. On Sheldon’s 50th birthday, she spent the day with her mother – the first birthday with her mother since the day she was born. 

“We cried and held each other,” Sheldon said, adding she hears many stories similar to her own through her work.

First Nations

Dubie is an intergenerational residential school survivor who is Haudenesounee Turtle Clan from the territory of the Grand River. 

She’s the founder and executive director of Healing of the Seven Generations (HSG), a nonprofit organization in Kitchener that supports Indigenous people in Waterloo, Wellington, Guelph and surrounding areas suffering the impacts of the residential school system. 

Stewart, who lived in Erin from 1968 until 2019, is Bay of Quinte Mohawk Turtle Clan and the founder of Tall Tree Indigenous Peace Building Circles, a non-profit that supports Indigenous families and children through healing circles. 

The circles go beyond conflict resolution, Stewart said, and work to “wrap around a family” and rally to figure out what they need. 

Her work centres around safety, helping the family “address what they don’t do so well,” and emphasizing their strengths. 

She builds relationships and trust with the families  and helps them become aware “of their identity that was stolen from them.” 

“If they are First Nations, I can say ‘here are your teachings – this is who you are. These values are pretty important. This is what was taken from you.’

“If they are Ojibwe, I can say ‘you are an Anishinaabekwe; an Ojibwe woman. I want you to keep repeating that.’”  

Then she starts connecting them with “helpers,” many of whom work at HSG.

The helpers’ support includes food security, housing, health care, education, court support and ceremonies. 

“It takes a village,” Stewart said, “and we are building that village.” 

There is nothing like HSG in Wellington County or Guelph, so many Indigenous locals go to Kitchener to receive this support, Stewart explained. 

Funding

And though HSG supports hundreds of people from Clifford to Kitchener, funding is limited, Dubie noted. 

“Funding for Indigenous community organizations is always on the sparse side – an Indigenous organization will only be funded two thirds of what a mainstream organization is,” she said. 

“We ride on grants for the most part,” Stewart said, “but grants are not sustainable.” 

“It’s like the Canadian government wants us to fail,” Stewart said.

“We need resources,” Dubie said, “we need them to walk beside us, because we can’t do it all alone. But we aren’t asking them to control us as they walk beside us – walk beside us in friendship and understanding.”

She compared keeping the organization afloat on such a tight budget to “surviving above the drowning line of a flood.” 

But despite the low funds, “We are going to do everything we can to better help those children,” Dubie said. 

With more resources, they would like to create a place like HSG in Wellington County or Guelph, Dubie and Stewart said. 

‘Canada did this’

Supports such as those offered at HSG are essential to combatting systemic issues such as the over-representation of Indigenous people in foster care, shelters, prisons and hospitals, “yet do we get the help to better our people? Absolutely not,” Dubie said. 

“We basically top the chart at everything,” Stewart said: suicide, domestic violence, child welfare system, criminal system, poverty.

Dubie said it’s important to recognize these issues are results of the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop: “Canada did this to our people.

“The Canadian government didn’t want any more Indian ‘problem,’” Stewart said, so that’s why they wanted to take the Indian out of the child.”

And they took away more than just culture, Stewart said – “They disposed of everything. Family. Teachings. Land. Inheritance.”

Dubie said many Indigenous families struggling “don’t even know themselves why they are dysfunctional,” but their parents, grandparents and great grandparents were abused in residential schools and were told they could never speak about it, so turned to drugs, alcohol, gambling and other addictions to try to escape the pain. 

“Canada is saying between 150,000 and 200,000 people were in residential schools,” Dubie said. “They have families, those families have families,” and the trauma is passed on from one generation to the next.

Indigenous children were  shamed for their culture and told it was “evil devil worship,” which made them “afraid to be who they really are” and speak their traditional languages even after leaving school, Dubie said. 

The children also experienced a wide range of physical and sexual abuse.

“They come out as young teens and young adults who don’t know how to be parents because of all those things that they were taught. Those things they were taught became parenting skills,” she said. 

‘Knows the history’

“In order to service a family, you’ve got to have someone that understands that culture and knows the history,” Stewart said. 

“All their lives they have been told they are a piece of shit,” she said. “We are saying, ‘guess what? You are not a piece of shit, and you do matter. (The Creator doesn’t) make mistakes, and Creator made you. So come on, let’s pull up your socks, let’s go.” 

Dubie said organizations such as HSG, Tall Tree and Kamatsiarniq help families “get back in touch with their culture and understand who they are.”

Stewart said some children first learn they are Indigenous after connecting with an advocate through the child welfare system. 

“We bring them back to the teachings. Help them build their self esteem. Help them build that spirit in them. Help them live a good life,” Stewart said. “We teach them how they can pray,” and about Indigenous stories and world views.

With ceremonies and traditional medicines, the advocates help families “move away from the drugs and alcohol and abuses. Because that’s not who we are as a people,” Dubie said. 

“We are not ‘heathens,’ not ‘dirty Indians,’ we have heart and spirit,” she said. “We are people. We just want to survive – and have an awesome day.”

“Our community has a lot of kindness,” Sheldon added. “That’s our teachings.” But she said kindness can be a hard thing to achieve, “because we weren’t raised with kindness,” and faced lifelong systemic abuse, racism and criticism. 

“You were beaten up as a kid when you went to mainstream school,” she said, and many Indigenous mothers had child welfare show up in the hospital as soon as they gave birth, “and you didn’t even do anything wrong. 

“So to walk with kindness – it takes a lot.” 

Breaking the cycle

Stewart said it’s significant for her when she sees children she worked with grow up to flourish as healthy and happy adults, “knowing that cycle is broken, and they are going to be okay.” 

Some of the children grow up to be child welfare advocates themselves, she said. 

Dubie said receiving the Merit Award was meaningful as it shows how far they have come along “a very long road.

“The award really recognized our endurance and our dedication to the community. Not just our contributions to child welfare, but the tough journey that we had and our resilience,” she said 

Sheldon said it was an honour, particularly to share it with Stewart and Dubie, though it “felt kinda strange, as it’s not really the Inuit way to be awarded or recognized.”

Sheldon said she, Stewart and Dubie often “go beyond what we are asked to do … because we know the need is out there,” and they appreciate being recognized for that. 

And she said FCSGW “has really taken a few extra steps, compared to other children’s aid societies, to work in Indigenous well-being.”

“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate and partner with Wendy, Donna and Tauni; working together to disrupt and change the legacy of child welfare with Indigenous communities,” FCSGW officials state.

Sheldon said she has hope for the future because “we are in a day now of truth and reconciliation.

“We can’t erase the past,” Sheldon said, “but it left a legacy that is impacting Indigenous people.”  

And now that the truth is out in the open, “We can work together as all people,” towards a better future. 

Robin George Reporter

 

Indigenous women recognized for children’s welfare work

 www.wellingtonadvertiser.com /indigenous-women-recognized-for-childrens-welfare-work/

Robin George 7/24/2024 

And they took away more than just culture, Stewart said – “They disposed of everything. Family. Teachings. Land. Inheritance.”

---

GUELPH – Family and Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington County (FCSGW) has recognized three Indigenous women for their work in child welfare advocacy.

Tauni Sheldon, Donna Dubie and Wendy Stewart were presented with FCSGW’s Award of Merit on June 20. 

“The invaluable contributions of these Indigenous leaders and unwavering dedication to their communities serves as an inspiration to us all,” FCSGW officials state.  

“This is the first time in local history Indigenous providers have been recognized for our child welfare advocacy,” Stewart said.

Sheldon, Dubie and Stewart advocate for Indigenous children involved with child welfare societies across Ontario. They are not agents of family and children’s services but independent providers who offer culturally appropriate support to Indigenous families.

Inuit advocacy

Sheldon lives in Ospringe and is Inuk from Nunavut and Northern Quebec, a Sixties Scoop survivor, and a cultural advisor with Kamatsiarniq. 

Sixties Scoop refers to the removal of tens of thousands of Indigenous children from their families into the Canadian child welfare system. 

Kamatsiarniq translates to “a place where Inuit are welcome” and is a child welfare program at Tunjasuvvingat Inuit, a non-profit service provider. 

Sheldon oversees Inuit culture with families, supports Inuit families through navigating the child welfare system and guides children’s aid societies regarding Inuit culture and Inuit rights. 

“Its important for Inuit to have that advocacy and support,” Sheldon said, “especially as none of us are on our traditional lands” in southern Ontario. 

Tauni said Inuit are often swept under a pan-Indigenous approach, or assumed to be First Nations, instead of recognized as a distinct Indigenous group. 

When Inuit are sent to Ontario from northern Canada through the child welfare system, she said it’s important the children “remain connected to who they are as Inuit.” 

Sheldon said she “has that fire to try and be that voice for people who don’t have their voice or don’t know what to do,” because she knows how it feels to be a voiceless child.

Her family and her adoptive family are “still trying to understand the Sixties Scoop.”

“For my birth mother, it was very traumatic,” she said. Sheldon’s birth mother had arranged for a traditional Inuit adoption, but instead Sheldon was “scooped” and taken away to Ontario. 

“I was a baby when I was apprehended” and at that time, there weren’t Indigenous people in the system who could advocate for her, Sheldon said.

After decades apart, Sheldon reconnected with her mother and said they now have a loving relationship. On Sheldon’s 50th birthday, she spent the day with her mother – the first birthday with her mother since the day she was born. 

“We cried and held each other,” Sheldon said, adding she hears many stories similar to her own through her work.

First Nations

Dubie is an intergenerational residential school survivor who is Haudenesounee Turtle Clan from the territory of the Grand River. 

She’s the founder and executive director of Healing of the Seven Generations (HSG), a nonprofit organization in Kitchener that supports Indigenous people in Waterloo, Wellington, Guelph and surrounding areas suffering the impacts of the residential school system. 

Stewart, who lived in Erin from 1968 until 2019, is Bay of Quinte Mohawk Turtle Clan and the founder of Tall Tree Indigenous Peace Building Circles, a non-profit that supports Indigenous families and children through healing circles. 

The circles go beyond conflict resolution, Stewart said, and work to “wrap around a family” and rally to figure out what they need. 

Her work centres around safety, helping the family “address what they don’t do so well,” and emphasizing their strengths. 

She builds relationships and trust with the families  and helps them become aware “of their identity that was stolen from them.” 

“If they are First Nations, I can say ‘here are your teachings – this is who you are. These values are pretty important. This is what was taken from you.’

“If they are Ojibwe, I can say ‘you are an Anishinaabekwe; an Ojibwe woman. I want you to keep repeating that.’”  

Then she starts connecting them with “helpers,” many of whom work at HSG.

The helpers’ support includes food security, housing, health care, education, court support and ceremonies. 

“It takes a village,” Stewart said, “and we are building that village.” 

There is nothing like HSG in Wellington County or Guelph, so many Indigenous locals go to Kitchener to receive this support, Stewart explained. 

Funding

And though HSG supports hundreds of people from Clifford to Kitchener, funding is limited, Dubie noted. 

“Funding for Indigenous community organizations is always on the sparse side – an Indigenous organization will only be funded two thirds of what a mainstream organization is,” she said. 

“We ride on grants for the most part,” Stewart said, “but grants are not sustainable.” 

“It’s like the Canadian government wants us to fail,” Stewart said.

“We need resources,” Dubie said, “we need them to walk beside us, because we can’t do it all alone. But we aren’t asking them to control us as they walk beside us – walk beside us in friendship and understanding.”

She compared keeping the organization afloat on such a tight budget to “surviving above the drowning line of a flood.” 

But despite the low funds, “We are going to do everything we can to better help those children,” Dubie said. 

With more resources, they would like to create a place like HSG in Wellington County or Guelph, Dubie and Stewart said. 

‘Canada did this’

Supports such as those offered at HSG are essential to combatting systemic issues such as the over-representation of Indigenous people in foster care, shelters, prisons and hospitals, “yet do we get the help to better our people? Absolutely not,” Dubie said. 

“We basically top the chart at everything,” Stewart said: suicide, domestic violence, child welfare system, criminal system, poverty.

Dubie said it’s important to recognize these issues are results of the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop: “Canada did this to our people.

“The Canadian government didn’t want any more Indian ‘problem,’” Stewart said, so that’s why they wanted to take the Indian out of the child.”

And they took away more than just culture, Stewart said – “They disposed of everything. Family. Teachings. Land. Inheritance.”

Dubie said many Indigenous families struggling “don’t even know themselves why they are dysfunctional,” but their parents, grandparents and great grandparents were abused in residential schools and were told they could never speak about it, so turned to drugs, alcohol, gambling and other addictions to try to escape the pain. 

“Canada is saying between 150,000 and 200,000 people were in residential schools,” Dubie said. “They have families, those families have families,” and the trauma is passed on from one generation to the next.

Indigenous children were  shamed for their culture and told it was “evil devil worship,” which made them “afraid to be who they really are” and speak their traditional languages even after leaving school, Dubie said. 

The children also experienced a wide range of physical and sexual abuse.

“They come out as young teens and young adults who don’t know how to be parents because of all those things that they were taught. Those things they were taught became parenting skills,” she said. 

‘Knows the history’

“In order to service a family, you’ve got to have someone that understands that culture and knows the history,” Stewart said. 

“All their lives they have been told they are a piece of shit,” she said. “We are saying, ‘guess what? You are not a piece of shit, and you do matter. (The Creator doesn’t) make mistakes, and Creator made you. So come on, let’s pull up your socks, let’s go.” 

Dubie said organizations such as HSG, Tall Tree and Kamatsiarniq help families “get back in touch with their culture and understand who they are.”

Stewart said some children first learn they are Indigenous after connecting with an advocate through the child welfare system. 

“We bring them back to the teachings. Help them build their self esteem. Help them build that spirit in them. Help them live a good life,” Stewart said. “We teach them how they can pray,” and about Indigenous stories and world views.

With ceremonies and traditional medicines, the advocates help families “move away from the drugs and alcohol and abuses. Because that’s not who we are as a people,” Dubie said. 

“We are not ‘heathens,’ not ‘dirty Indians,’ we have heart and spirit,” she said. “We are people. We just want to survive – and have an awesome day.”

“Our community has a lot of kindness,” Sheldon added. “That’s our teachings.” But she said kindness can be a hard thing to achieve, “because we weren’t raised with kindness,” and faced lifelong systemic abuse, racism and criticism. 

“You were beaten up as a kid when you went to mainstream school,” she said, and many Indigenous mothers had child welfare show up in the hospital as soon as they gave birth, “and you didn’t even do anything wrong. 

“So to walk with kindness – it takes a lot.” 

Breaking the cycle

Stewart said it’s significant for her when she sees children she worked with grow up to flourish as healthy and happy adults, “knowing that cycle is broken, and they are going to be okay.” 

Some of the children grow up to be child welfare advocates themselves, she said. 

Dubie said receiving the Merit Award was meaningful as it shows how far they have come along “a very long road.

“The award really recognized our endurance and our dedication to the community. Not just our contributions to child welfare, but the tough journey that we had and our resilience,” she said 

Sheldon said it was an honour, particularly to share it with Stewart and Dubie, though it “felt kinda strange, as it’s not really the Inuit way to be awarded or recognized.”

Sheldon said she, Stewart and Dubie often “go beyond what we are asked to do … because we know the need is out there,” and they appreciate being recognized for that. 

And she said FCSGW “has really taken a few extra steps, compared to other children’s aid societies, to work in Indigenous well-being.”

“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate and partner with Wendy, Donna and Tauni; working together to disrupt and change the legacy of child welfare with Indigenous communities,” FCSGW officials state.

Sheldon said she has hope for the future because “we are in a day now of truth and reconciliation.

“We can’t erase the past,” Sheldon said, “but it left a legacy that is impacting Indigenous people.”  

And now that the truth is out in the open, “We can work together as all people,” towards a better future. 

Robin George Reporter

 

MMIWG | RED DRESS DAY + EVENTS

MMIP. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced today it will launch a new print and digital awareness campaign to commemorate the upcoming Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day on May 5.
(WILL BE UPDATED)

 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) National Day of Recognition May 5th- Raising Awareness 

Event: Red Sand Project. (ARKANSAS)

The Red Sand Project Earthworks | Red Sand Project pouring red sand into sidewalk cracks highlights things we often overlook. May 5th is recognized as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) throughout the nation (North America). 

Walk With Our Sisters to continue to raise awareness surrounding MMIWG

24 April 2024 | FORT FRANCIS ONTARIO

By Ken Kellar  kkellar@fortfrances.com

A walk being planned for early May is hoping to raise more awareness surrounding an ongoing national crisis.

The second annual Walk With Our Sisters is being planned by a collective of local agencies all with a goal of raising awareness around the emergency of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), along with boys and two-spirit people.  The walk is scheduled for Tuesday, May 7, 2024, and will begin at the Fort Frances Senior Centre at 12:00 p.m. before making its way to the United Native Friendship Centre (UNFC) on Scott and Mowat.

Rhonda Howells, the preservation worker with the Northwestern Ontario Metis Child and Family Services (NWOMCFS), along with the UNFC’s aboriginal healing and wellness worker Amanda Guimond and Giishkaandago’Ikwe Health Services’ Memengwaawag liaison and case manager Brandis Oliver have been planning this event with the intent to give it even more of an impact than last year’s in order to really drive home the message that the Rainy River District is not immune to the realities of MMIWG.

“There had been some extended interest [following last year’s walk] and so we’re hoping that this year is a bigger and better event,” Howells said.

“We’ve got more partners that are on board, so we’re excited to bring this awareness to the community. We were just talking earlier about the woman that’s missing locally. We need to be bringing awareness to our community. We are not exempt from this. Being a border town, it is definitely something we have to be very conscientious of. We need to raise or children to have a voice and we need to educate people so that everyone is aware of it to keep everyone safe. That’s one of the reasons why this Walk With Our Sisters is so important in our area. We are directly impacted by it and a lot of people don’t necessarily realize that it is right under our noses.”

Howells said that the walk is part of a movement seeking to end violence against women and seeks to draw attention to high rates of violence, disappearances and murders against Indigenous people in Canada, particularly women and girls. She noted that the frequency of this crisis is at such a level that there are few Indigenous people who haven’t been affected by it in some fashion.

“Chances are that if you know an Indigenous person, they are related to someone who has gone missing,” she said.

“That’s how common it is.”

Guimond noted the walk will begin with a blessing by an elder from Seine River who has been impacted by human trafficking in her family, and whose granddaughter is making and will be dancing in a red jingle dress for the event. Ribbons will be passed out to all participants in the walk, who can then personalize them by writing the name of a missing or murdered loved one, or simply something that is significant to them. Once the walk arrives at the UNFC, the walkers will hang their ribbons along the fence that borders the two main roadways, a bagged lunch will provided for participants, and a special drum song by the UNFC’s women’s hand drumming group will also be performed. Guimond said the song was gifted to the drum group specifically for the missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two-spirited.

The most recent stats on MMIWG come from 2020, according to Howells, and at that point in time it was reported that Indigenous women are up to six times more likely to be murdered or sexually assaulted, and four times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of violence.  The stats also reveal that one in three Indigenous women have been, or will experience, rape in their lifetime, and that murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women. Considering the statistics are now four years old, Oliver said it’s almost certain those statistics are under-representing today’s reality.

“It’s a national emergency right now,” she said.

“The government has actually put in that it’s a national emergency with the amount of victims that are now being found in landfills across Canada, and how much of an issue it actually is. I don’t think the numbers are correct, from what they put out.”

Howells said that after last year’s participant count of 156, the organizing group set this year’s goal for 250 walk participants, and even greater numbers in years to come. She said that the three of them see the Walk as another opportunity to spread the word about MMIWG, hoping that people will realize that it is something that is impacting our region, and noted that conversation is the key to learning more and taking action.

“We need to start that conversation so we can educate our children so that they’re not victims,” Howells said.

“We need to bring awareness so that if you do see something that doesn’t feel quite right, there is a place for people to go. People need to know what to do. We’ve got great people, we’ve got mental health counsellors, they’re there and they are going to be present. If you need support, we’ve got that support here. We encourage anyone to participate. You don’t have to Indigenous, you don’t have to be a woman. The more awareness that we can bring to our community, when the traffickers come through here, if they know people are watching, maybe it will discourage someone from being taken.”

“We want to stop that bystander effect,” Guimond added.

“People are not paying attention, they’re not calling to report anything that they’re seeing. We really want that to come to an end because that will help protect more people from violent situations.”

The Walk organizers also shared that in the lead-up to the event, businesses in Fort Frances and along Scott Street are invited to decorate their front windows with red dresses, handprints or other similar symbols to show solidarity with the walk. Participating businesses will be eligible for a prize for the best display.

 READ MORE:

'My heart's very heavy': Inquest into deaths of 4 Indigenous women starts in Whitehorse

Donations sought ahead of Red Dress Day in Penticton

 MMIWG 5K returns to Grande Prairie for sixth anniversary

 

Metis Society of Fort St. John to host first-ever Red Dress Day event

Local Journalism Initiative

April 30, 2024

The Metis Society of Fort St. John is hosting its first-ever Red Dress Day event, highlighting local Metis and Indigenous vendors and entrepreneurs through an artisan market.

Metis Society board member Bailey Copeland says the event came to fruition after the organization’s board, elected in 2023, started discussing how to recognize the significant day.

“We decided it would be a really good idea to bring some sort of a public event to Fort St. John that brings awareness and helps move us towards reconciliation,” said Copeland.

“I hope that people will attend the event, speak to some of the vendors, maybe learn their stories, and potentially learn who they've lost because most indigenous people have lost somebody.”

Red Dress Day began as an art project by Indigenous artist Jaime Black. In 2010, Black displayed an installation at the University of Winnipeg that included red dresses symbolizing the growing number of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) nationwide.

“Just like the visual of the red dress itself, [this event] provides us with an opportunity to consider the pain and loss experienced by Indigenous people,” says Copeland.

According to Statistics Canada, 490 Indigenous women and girls were killed between 2009 and 2021. Of those who were murdered, 60 per cent were First Nations, eight per cent were Inuit, and seven per cent were Métis.

Locally, the Indigenous community can point to the disappearances of Renee Didier and Darlyn Supernant, who were last seen in Dawson Creek in 2023.

Copeland says there is the hope that more will come involved as the date draws near.

“Bead workers and individuals from Indigenous businesses will come and display their products,” said Copeland. “Several Indigenous businesses are in town, so we’re still reaching out and hoping for more sign-ups.”

The market will be available on May 5th at Festival Plaza (Fort St. John Metis Society)

She wants the event to open up conversations between the community, non-Indigenous and Indigenous, as people in Canada strive toward reconciliation.

According to Copeland, she feels that listening and sharing their stories allows non-Indigenous people to experience a bit of what Indigenous people have lost.

“Every event that we have in the public just makes our community more culturally diverse,” said Copeland.

The market will occur from noon to 3:00 p.m. at the Festival Plaza at 96th Avenue and 100th Street in Fort St. John.

Edward Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca

*

Walk this Sunday in Red Deer to remember all missing & murdered Indigenous people

Apr 30, 2024  Grief takes forefront at Red Dress Day observance in Red Deer

A solemn walk to remember all Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) is happening in Red Deer on May 5, or what is known nationally as Red Dress Day.

The walk begins at 8 a.m. with an opening ceremony at the Common Ground Garden Project (5581 45 Street).

 

 

‘Appalling’: AFN Chief says Indigenous youth shouldn’t be placed in for-profit care

 

 

SOURCE

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says First Nations children shouldn’t be placed with for-profit companies in Ontario’s child-welfare system.

She made her remarks in an exclusive interview with Global News after the broadcast and publication online of a year-long, multi-part investigation that revealed allegations of targeting and mistreatment of Indigenous youth by some group homes.

“That’s appalling to hear,” Chief Woodhouse Nepinak told Global News. “We’ve always known that our kids were a target.

“I don’t think our children should be for-profit at all,” she said.

“It’s time that we give our children back to the people that have cared for them for thousands and thousands of years.”

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Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said she would be renewing calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to apologize in the House of Commons to all the Indigenous youth who’ve been wronged by Canada’s child-welfare systems.

“Unfortunately, our kids have been taken away since residential schools, day schools, the ’60s Scoop and now the child welfare system,” she said.

The Global News investigation revealed how Indigenous youth from remote communities in Northern Ontario and Nunavut are allegedly targeted by some for-profit group home companies because their owners can charge more for Indigenous children or because the kids provide a steady source of revenue, according to interviews with more than 50 former group home workers, former children’s aid employees and child-welfare experts.

The results are horrendous experiences some likened to the abuse that took place during the residential schools era, according to some workers, child-welfare experts and youth.

In northern Ontario, Indigenous child-welfare agencies care for kids who have experienced family crises or abuse or who have complex needs.

These agencies serve some of the most resource-starved communities located near the Manitoba border all the way up to Attawapiskat on James Bay, which can lack basic services like housing, running water, or mental health care.

Faced with few options, these Indigenous children’s agencies are often sent to group homes thousands of kilometres away in cities in southern Ontario — separating them from family, friends and culture.

A Global News analysis of spending data by children’s aid societies (CAS) across Ontario revealed that northern Indigenous agencies are paying higher daily fees for such care than their non-Indigenous counterparts.

On average, northern Indigenous children’s aid societies paid 26 per cent more per day for a child to live in a group home, not run by a CAS, compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts between 2012/2013 and 2021/2022.

This discrepancy meant Indigenous children’s agencies in northern Ontario spent nearly $28 million more over 10 years than if they’d been charged the average rate paid by non-Indigenous agencies across the province.

Chief Woodhouse Nepinak called the situation “disgusting.”

“It’s hurtful to communities, it’s hurtful to families, it’s hurtful to the next generation.”

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Global News also spoke with multiple former workers from group homes across Ontario who said that staff and management at some companies allegedly referred to Indigenous youth as “cash cows,” “money-makers,” or even “paycheques.”

“It’s disgusting. … How could you label children like that?” Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said. “They’re our children. They’re First Nations children. And to treat them less than is horrific.” 

She said child welfare should be under the jurisdiction of First Nations, pointing to a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that upheld the federal government’s Indigenous child welfare law.

VIDEOS AND MORE: https://globalnews.ca/news/10335930/afn-chief-says-indigenous-youth-shouldnt-be-placed-in-for-profit-care

 

'It's our job to be mom's voice,' but despite that, number of Indigenous kids in care is climbing

This is part 2 of 3 in a series looking at the Indigenous child welfare system in northern Ontario

Erik White · CBC News · Posted: Dec 12, 2023

Nogdawindamin Family and Community Services CEO talks about two of the children in care who he thinks about the most

Indigenous children's aid CEO Kerry Francis has heard the stories of hundreds of kids, but these two stick with him.

The calls coming from the hospital were sadly very familiar to the staff at the Nogdawindamin neonatal hub in Sault Ste. Marie.

They are commonly known as "birth alerts."

"That mom should not be caring for this baby, it's not safe," recalled outreach worker Carli Ochman.

But when she got to the hospital she found an Indigenous mother who was "tirelessly" by the side of her newborn son, being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit.

"And I'm looking at the paper work that's been provided to me and I'm thinking 'Something is wrong here,'" said Ochman.

"It's our job to be mom's voice when her voice might be breaking."

READ: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/nogdawindamin-children-in-care-birth-alerts-1.7035977

60s Scoop film: Birth of a Family

United Way film screening focuses on tragic stories of Sixties Scoop

The film, called Birth of a Family, is screening is Sept. 26

 Stock photo Nicolette Leonie Villavicencio via Pexels

Listen to this article

00:03:01

NEWS RELEASE
UNITED WAY SIMCOE-MUSKOKA
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United Way Simcoe Muskoka will be screening the award-winning film Birth of a Family at the Midland Cultural Centre on September 26, 2023, as part of the 2023 Real2Reel Film Festival.  The local charity is partnering with the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle and Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin to host the evening in recognition of Truth and Reconciliation Week.  

“They say that there can be no reconciliation without truth,” said Brian Shelley, United Way Chief Executive and Philanthropy Officer. “It is important to create space for those with lived experiences to share their stories so that we can begin to move forward with reconciliation in a good way.” 

In this deeply moving feature-length documentary, three sisters and a brother meet for the first time.  Removed from their young Dene mother during the infamous Sixties Scoop, they were separated as infants and adopted into families across North America. Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000+ Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or live in foster care.  As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, and their family begins to take shape.

 

Following the film, Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle’s Heather McIntyre will moderate a panel discussion to further explore the impact of the Sixties Scoop.  

United Way Simcoe Muskoka’s Real2Reel Film Festival is sponsored by the RBC Foundation and aims to reduce stigma and raise awareness of complex community issues. Net proceeds raised through this event will support the United Way’s funding of the Wiijinokiiwag project delivered in partnership between CMHA and the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle. 

When: September 26, 2023 – 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Where: The Midland Cultural Centre, 333 King St, Midland, ONTARIO L4R 3M7

Who: This event is open to the public. Tickets are $7.53

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/truth-reconciliation-film-screening-birth-of-a-family-tickets-700351930477

More Information: https://uwsimcoemuskoka.ca/birth-of-a-family-2023/

This film contains material of a sensitive nature, including the Sixties Scoop, that may be triggering for some individuals. Please take part as you feel comfortable.

Healing the Family Within

Katie Roubideux: Rosebud Sioux.

Friendship Centre starts ‘60s Scoop healing group

(TORONTO STAR) Chelsea Kemp | Brandon Sun | Jan. 17, 2022

The Brandon Friendship Centre has launched a new program focused on helping ’60s Scoop survivors navigate their healing journey.

The Friendship Centre Healing Foundation was created using grant money provided by the ’60s Scoop Foundation to help survivors heal from the trauma of their experiences, said new co-ordinator Debbie Huntinghawk. The funding will support the foundation for a year, she said, but their hope is it will be able to build a successful program that will run for many years to come.

The ’60s Scoop is part of Canada’s colonial legacy and involved the removal of Indigenous children from their parents, families, communities and cultures. It left a generation of traumatized youth who have struggled to find their place in their communities and country because they have no cultural identity or community ties, she said.

These survivors are now middle-aged community members coping with significant pain and trauma from their loss of identity and place.

“They’re homeless, they’re lost, struggling to find their identity, their language and where they belong,” Huntinghawk said.

Talking about surviving the ’60s Scoop is a heartbreaking experience that leaves survivors with raw emotions that need tending to heal. The foundation will help facilitate healing through education, support, trauma-informed care, understanding of the ’60s Scoop and meeting survivors where they are at on their life journeys.

“We’re walking with people, not pulling them or dragging them or pushing them. We’re walking with people as they are doing their healing,” said cultural support worker Deborah Tacan. “We sit there and we talk heart-to-heart.”

Tacan is a ’60s Scoop survivor. She had six brothers, who were taken and adopted across Canada and the United States.

They were never brought back together as a family when they were children, but they did find each other again as adults. But there is not that same connection as if they had grown up as a family with their other relatives.

She noted ’60s Scoop survivors faced a life-changing experience because they were physically removed from their families and communities. All of their ties to their culture and traditions were cut off when they were youth just beginning to learn who they are.

“They were stripped of their whole culture. They never went back to their communities,” Tacan said. “They were never brought back — it interrupted their kinship ties … aunties, uncles, we don’t have those connections to those people because you are taken right out of your culture.”

These experiences left survivors unmoored, without an identity and craving meaningful connections.

The goal of the foundation is to help people understand the painful loss of these familial and community connections and the trauma inflicted on survivors, Tacan said.

It is a challenging conversation because many survivors blame their parents for what happened to them as children, Tacan said. She and her siblings understand all the systemic barriers in place that led to their removal from their family.

She hopes to help people understand and heal from these traumatic thoughts that have left deep wounds on the soul.

It is important to engage in these healing and recovery practices with survivors, Huntinghawk said, so future generations do not have to carry the trauma brought on by the ’60s Scoop.

Huntinghawk said in many cases, Indigenous children taken during the scoop were placed in non-Indigenous homes. It was a context where they were raised to think their culture, heritage and traditions were inferior.

This happened to her mom, and the trauma was passed onto Huntinghawk growing up. Her mother was taken and raised in a Catholic household and removed from her Indigenous identity.

“For me when I grew up, I was always told it was no good to be an Indian. It was bad,” Huntinghawk said. “I had that ingrained in my head for years, that you don’t want to be a part of that ‘savage’ community.”

It was a toxic ideology to grow up with, she said, and it took time and work to heal from. It was challenging to hear her mother’s experiences growing up in a non-Indigenous home, especially because she had 13 other siblings she was taken from.

“I feel like I’m doing the healing work for my mom because my mom didn’t get to heal,” Huntinghawk said. “She didn’t get to do that work.”

It has been an amazing experience helping those who come to the Brandon Friendship Centre doors looking for aid, she said.

Huntinghawk recently worked with one survivor who was born in Manitoba and sent to Ontario during the ’60s Scoop.

He later returned to the province living with addiction and homelessness. Huntinghawk said he was in a challenging position because he did not know where to start on his healing journey.

His visit to the Friendship Centre was spurred by his application for a compensation settlement from the federal government as part of a class-action lawsuit was denied.

“His brother and sister got it, but not him because he messed up on his application,” Huntinghawk said. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here to support them and get them established.”

She helped him find the name of the housing co-ordinator support person and is also working to help him re-apply for ’60s Scoop compensation.

“All we do is listen to what they need from us,” Huntinghawk said.

The man was not in a unique situation, she said, as many survivors are denied their applications because they are unhoused. They do not have a way to keep correspondence during the application process because they do not have an address.

These survivors can now have applications sent to the foundation, and Friendship Centre staff will serve as a middleman to help survivors navigate the claims process.

She added the Friendship Centre will also work to help fill out applications, because the lengthy document can be intimidating for survivors. Huntinghawk said clients need help navigating these systems that can often put an end to someone’s healing journey before they even take their first step.

The goal is to build the program and tailor the supports to survivors based on their needs and ensure it operates in a good way.

“We’re just learning, too. We’re going to try and do our best, and gather information from the people that come to understand what they are wanting, what they are needing, what are they hoping to find out,” Tacan said. “We need to know those questions, so we can ask those questions on behalf of the people.”

The Friendship Centre will host a ’60s Scoop information session dubbed “Healing the Family Within” at the Mahkaday Ginew Memorial Centre at 205 College Ave. on Jan. 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The session will cover topics including the history of the ’60s Scoop, the effects on individuals, families and kinship ties, discussions on healing programs and resources and information on the ’60s Scoop claims process. Guest speaker and ’60s Scoop survivor Marlene Oregon will also provide a presentation.

Tacan added the title, “Healing the Family Within,” was chosen with a specific purpose.

“We all carry a family within us. It doesn’t matter who we are; we all have a family inside of us that we think about as ’60s Scoop survivors. We have that in our minds, that we’re going to get back together and we’re going to be a family,” Tacan said. “But when it happens, that’s not always the case. It’s not this romantic idea that we have in our minds — we have to heal that inside of us.”

Seating for the “Healing the Family Within” is limited and registration in advance is required. Contact the Brandon Friendship Centre at 204-727-1407 for more details.