Top News - September - 2002
Manitoulin Island wrapped up summer celebrations with a Labour Day weekend powwow. Residents and visitors alike enjoyed the warm weather and the chance to renew acquaintances. Here Helen Crawford admires the First Nations arts and crafts displayed by vendor Paul Francis.Photo by Margo Little
Precedent setting policy coming
Men learn true meaning of the warrior way
Advocacy group helps search for birth parents
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Precedent setting policy coming
Margo Little, Birchbark Writer, Sudbury
A ground-breaking First Nations education policy will be adopted by the Rainbow Board of Education in the near future.
The policy that will be in force throughout the Sudbury-Manitoulin district will recognize the diversity of needs and learning styles within a classroom.
Under the policy the board will acknowledge that each student brings unique characteristics to the classroom based on environmental background and cultural values. In addition, the school system will formalize its awareness and acceptance of First Nations as a legitimate group making a valuable contribution to society as a whole.
The policy is expected to be formally adopted this fall.
Robert Beaudin, a Manitoulin trustee representing First Nations communities on the Rainbow Board, reports that curriculum development initiatives are well under way. Now in his fifth year as a trustee with the amalgamated board, Beaudin has consistently lobbied for a more inclusive curriculum.
"The present board has been very receptive in acknowledging First Nations as a legitimate partner in curriculum development," he said.
"The new educational service agreements work better under the amalgamated board. Now there is a true collaboration between the Rainbow Board, the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation and Kenjgewin Teg."
Beaudin co-chairs the curriculum initiatives committee with Fred Law of the Rainbow Board. Their goal is to take Ontario Ministry of Education outcomes and expectations and marry them with the main tenets of an Aboriginal world view, Beaudin explained. Native studies should no longer be an isolated course, he argued. Instead, First Nations perspectives will be incorporated across the curriculum in history, math, science and other subjects.
The program is moving ahead quickly as the kindergarten to Grade 3 plan will be piloted this fall. The draft curriculum includes teacher tips, references and biographies of potential guest speakers.
"We try to use a blend of both formally and informally qualified teachers," Beaudin added.
"An advisory board has been set up to offer advice on what material to deliver and how to deliver it."
Although the pilot project will follow ministry guidelines for skill development, a special emphasis will be placed on teaching traditional values such as respect.
Beaudin noted, "It is clear that parents want both included. In this way we enhance the ministry's minimum requirements."
Only partial funding is in place, Beaudin said. Although the Ministry of Education has endorsed the project and praised it as a role model, it has not funded it. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, however, has contributed its promised portion.
Educator Bonnie Depencier is co-ordinating the pilot project in seven provincial schools and the First Nations schools under the Rainbow Board.
"A mini pilot was conducted in May and June," she said. "We did a Mother Earth unit with Grade 1 and kindergarten. The reception has been very good; people are waiting for the resources now. We still have to develop the online component to support the program."
Work on the project started last October with a writing team headed by Dr. Pamela Toulouse of Laurentian University. Gradually 28 units of study were drafted for use in K-3.
"A lot has been done in the first year," Depencier said. "We are looking at developing an integrated curriculum for secondary schools in the future."
"No other board in Ontario has this very unique partnership in place," Beaudin said. "We are hoping for full endorsement at the next board meeting in September."
Men learn true meaning of the warrior way
Dan Smoke-Asayenes, Birchbark Writer, London
The Native Wellness Institute recently held a Native men's conference entitled, "Warrior Men are Responsible Men." Men came from all over Turtle Island to celebrate the Warrior Journey in London from Aug. 13 to 15.
More than a hundred men attended the conference, in addition to the seven presenters who came from Arizona, Saskatchewan, Vancouver, Wimindji, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and northern Quebec. There were three days of workshops, circles, sweat lodges, barbecues, and visits to the nearby Oneida Settlement and the Chippewas of the Thames.
The director of the Wellness Institute, Billy Rogers (Kiowa Nation) said, "We're here talking about personal healing, personal wellness, looking at our own issues, looking at how we can become better role models and how we can use our own culture and spirituality to bring some sense of wholeness to ourselves."
Rogers later defined what a "warrior" means to him.
"Warrior," he said, "brings to mind special characteristics, not only for men but also for women, including bravery, generosity, leadership, peacemaking and spirituality. All the Indigenous tribes of North America hold these values of the warrior spirit. We need to return to those basic values that define the culture, or help define a man or woman. We still have that warrior spirit, meaning that we're going to go out and fight, we're going to be committed, we're going to be generous with ourselves, we're going to be respectful, and we're gong to make peace when needed - not against each other, not necessarily against white people, but against whatever and whoever is trying to oppress us, to take away our health, to break the circle, to break the hoop.
"That could be a variety of things: diabetes, alcohol, domestic violence, poor parenting habits, sexual abuse. We're going to move to replace whatever we're trying to fight with a certain kind of mentality, an approach, a spirit that will embody and make our ancestors proud, just as they would have done 350 to 400 years ago."
Rogers, along with Dwayne Chocan (Cree Nation) and Dallas Guss (Salish Nation) presented the opening session entitled, "The Seven Stones of Being A Man."
The values and emotions of the seven stones are respect, responsibility, relations, resolve, rebuild, reclaim, and reverence, delegates heard. Chocan, from Onion Lake, Sask., says a man is one who is able to "feel the healing, hear the ceremonies, speak the truth, heal the wounds and trauma, and to forgive ourselves, the Creator and one's family." These stones will help men understand themselves and begin a new journey towards wholeness.
The next workshops dealt with how to be a good father and have healthy relationships. Gordon James (Skokomish Nation) from Washington State said, "Too often, we're not paying conscious attention to the choices that we're making as fathers - to the actions that we're taking as fathers." As a result, sometimes we realize our mistakes too late. He suggests we ask ourselves, "Are we doing the best that we can within ourselves to be the best fathers we can be, or are we just acting out of those habits?"
Harold Osife (Pima Nation) from Gila River said he attended the workshop because he wants "to learn how to be a better father" to his seven-year-old son.
Patrick Trujillo (Cochiti Pueblo Nation) presented on "Developing A Warrior Spirit." He said, "A true warrior is open to new knowledge. He's always learning." He urged men "to connect to that spirit within you, because this is what's been given to you by the Creator to live that good way of life, to be that true man for your family, for your community, to walk that good road . . . to know that, as a man, I don't have to take advantage of any woman . . . that's how we learn to protect our people."
Peter Beaucage (Ojibway Nation) offered that, "in our community we are forming an Ogitchidaw Society which is a society that is an organization like a warrior society. But we aren't really warriors. The term means someone who is ready to take on responsibilities."
On the final day, Mickey DeCarlo (Ojibway Nation) and Terry Rogers (Ojibway Nation) presented a workshop on domestic violence and the effects of colonization, which have contributed to the distortion of traditional roles and practices of First Nations communities and families. They said their work is to end violence against women and recreate peaceful, harmonious communities based on reclaiming their traditional values, belief systems, and life ways. The traditional life reflects compassion, respect, generosity, sharing, humility, industriousness, courage, love and being spiritually centered in our behavior and relationship with all things.
Robert Nappetung, who is a Yellowquill Cree from Saskachewan, learned that "we can be good people to ourselves, to our community, to our loved ones and to all people."
Robert "Pete" DeShane, who is originally from Saskatchewan, said he learned "there's things I need to work on . . . This is my first healing and wellness workshop, so I will take what I have learned to help my community."
Rogers has been providing training in Native communities for the last l9 years. He said, "For us to come together as men in this way, sharing, sometimes crying, laughing together, taking risks, and then hearing the men talking about, 'I'm going to call my wife; I'm going to really look at that; I'm going to tell my children that I love them.' That's all we can do. If I can do that little bitty part, and you do your little bitty part, then we begin to effect change, and we begin to see something positive happen for our people."
Harvey Thunderchild (Plains Cree Nation) has been sober for l9 years and works as the health director on the Thunderchild reserve in Saskatchewan. He has been rebuilding his life with the help of his wife, who attended the conference with him. He said this conference will help him on his wellness journey.
The Native Wellness Institute is based in Norman, Okla. It promotes emotional, physical, mental and spiritual wellness. The Canadian branch is run by Georgina Cowie (Ojibway) of the Hiawatha First Nation. The institute holds conferences to address issues such as spirituality, youth, diabetes, men's and women's issues, and family healing and wellness lifestyles. Their Web site is www.nativewellness.com.
Advocacy group helps search for birth parentsYvonne Irene Gladue, Birchbark Writer, Ottawa
Situated in Ottawa in the home of an adoptee, a group meets every two weeks to discuss a number of issues that Aboriginal people face when searching for their birth parents. The group known as Connecting With All My Relations got its unofficial start in October 2000. Beverly McKiver and another group member Mark Rutledge were asked to make a presentation about Aboriginal adoptees and their unique situation to Parent Finders. The core group of five people consider themselves an advocacy group for people in the adoption triad. Their vision is to regain the mental, physical, emotional, and well-being of Aboriginal people who have been removed from their families, communities and their cultures by sharing information, knowledge resources and support.
"The adoption triad means the birth parents, the children and the adoptive or foster parents, so extended family, I guess, on all sides. As adults who were removed from their communities through no choice of their own we want to come together to aid others. I think that when most people approach us, they are looking for some kind of connection and the recognition that they are not the only ones that have experienced these feelings and emotions," said McKiver.
"I would say that we have maybe 10 to 12 people that are loosely involved, and of course we all have full time jobs. Managing and organizing something like this could be a full time job for a manager but we are all doing it on a volunteer basis, so whatever work gets done we have to do it on our own time. So far the funding is coming out of our own pockets doing fundraising takes up a lot of time so does writing research proposals and things like that so it is going a lot slower than what we'd like," she said.
The group uses several tools to get their message out to the communities and also during the meeting process, a holistic view, a Web site, a newsletter, and a database.
"We are trying to take a holistic view, because there are so many parties involved; the adoptive or foster family, the birth family and the social workers. I think that everybody needs knowledge. Holistic is such a broad term but we use it in the search for our identity, our spiritually, in a physically sense and emotionally. Looking for your family is not just about reunification, it is about creating an identity and finding out about your culture, if that is what you want. We want to work towards our vision in a culturally appropriate and holistic way as embodied in the medicine wheel teachings," said McKiver. "We want to address a lot of different areas and we want to look at all points of view because sometimes there is a lot of anger involved. I think that it helps to have something like the medicine wheel. When we use it, we are trying to find some kind of framework for Aboriginal people. It helps us to focus our thoughts on what we want to do, and it is kind of a good way to check back and see if we are thinking about this in a good way. By developing the Web site we'd like to share knowledge, resources, support and information and by making contacts with other organizations, such as media for example we want to make people aware that of what is going on," she said.
According to McKiver the group continues to get positive feedback from various organizations.
"We've had letters from band councils that say there is this child looking for their birth parents. It is really a big search process. We'd like to have kind of a central place to start looking, to be an advocate for the protection of the most valuable resource of Aboriginal communities, which are our children. What we would like to do is to empower people to do things for themselves to get them started in the right direction. I think that it is really up to the individual. There really is a lot of information available if you know where to look. By providing information we can help them. For the most part that is what we've all done. We had to find out things for ourselves but you know once you get going on the right track things work out," she said.
McKiver, who got a late start in searching for her birth parents, went through the channels and registered with the adoption agency in Ontario.
"When I started to look for my birth parents there was really not that much available out there. I did not start to look until much later in life, and of course adoption laws being what they were, it was hard to get information, so a lot of it was by chance. I went through the channels and registered with the adoption registry, in Ontario. It is called the Children's Aid Society, but it was really through the Ojibway Family Services that I found my birth family. They sent different messages around to different reserves and I got a response that way. I got a call from someone who knew my birth family and they gave me a number to reach my sister. I got in touch with her and then confirmed with the registry that she was also registered, so that we were in fact sisters. For me it was a combination of going through the channels and a little bit of luck, but it took a lot of time. The waiting lists are really quite long," she said.
"It is open to people all across Canada. If they want to get a hold of me they can e-mail me at bmkiver@aol.com. I would say that before you look for your birth parents you have to go through a lot of preparation, both emotionally and mentally. It could be quite difficult or quite easy. I do not know if finding your birth parents is a necessary goal of everybody. I think that there is good and bad and that it has to be considered carefully, beforehand. I want to say the people that are searching-they are not alone - that there are other people that have gone through this," she said.
