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Parents want Native-run day care

Author

Elaine O'Farrell, Windspeaker Staff Writer, Montreal

Volume

7

Issue

1

Year

1989

Page 3

Canada's Indian families desperately need more Native-run day care for their children, the national inquiry into First Nations child care heard last week.

Myrtle Bush, a Mohawk from Kahnawake and chairman of the inquiry, said there is a growing sense of frustration among Native parents, many of whom have applied for federal

funding for day care and been rejected.

"Native child care and needs are different for First Nations, who struggle with barriers like high unemployment but families are still acutely aware of the need to integrate both educational development and cultural values within the children," Bush said in a telephone interview from Montreal.

All of the Native parents and child care workers who have appeared before the Montreal hearings expressed the urgent need for Native-run child care with a strong cultural component, Bush said.

And many have asked that day care be extended to unemployed parents, who want their children to learn about their Native heritage.

One Micmac community wants to start a child care program, based on the Headstart program in the States, which provides physical and intellectual stimulation for preschoolers, aged three to five, and is not restricted to working parents.

Bush said there is a strong need for family counselling and parenting workshops for Native parents, many of whom were reared in authoritarian residential schools.

"What is coming out (in the hearings) is the problems within the communities; the alcoholism, the unemployment, the child abuse.

"They are pinpointing a generation that was taken away from the (Native) community at a very early age. Today, these adults are caught between two cultures," she explained.

Bush said Indian families are primarily concerned with how their children are cared for in their absence.

"Are these children being brought up with traditional values?," she questioned. "We have to be careful with child care to ensure that our babies know their culture and language. We might inadvertently acculturate our babies if we put them in the care of culturally-insensitive people."

Among the country's Native population, a mini-baby boom has occurred over the past three to five years.

As a result, there is a large percentage of single mothers and a growing number of Native children, who make up 40 per cent of the Native population.

The hearings, which began March 7 in Montreal, paint a bleak picture for Native child care in Canada.

Although there are 42 Native child care programs in Ontario, there is only one program for all of Quebec and none exist in Canada.

Although there are 42 Native child care programs in Ontario, there is only one program for all of Quebec and non exist in Saskatchewan.

The inquiry comes on the heels of Bill C-144, the Canada Child Care Act. The Assembly of First Nations has objected to the Child Care Act because officials say it limits Natives' control over their children.

AFN National Chief Erasmus regards the bill as being fundamentally opposed to the rights of Canada's First Nations.

"Number one: the lack of proper recognition (in Bill C-144) of who has jurisdiction over child care in our communities. And number two: the programs here (in Canada) are not up to snuff with programs in the United States," said Erasmus.

There seems to be little action from federal politicians to meet us on this one."

The bill calls for First Nations to comply with provincial guidelines before they can gain access to provincial and federal funds.

The federal cost-sharing bill died on the Order Paper in Parliament last fall after the federal election was called, leaving it in legislative limbo.

However, the Treasury Board has approved $60 million on federal support for Native communities.

The Health and Welfare Child Care Initiative Fund, to be available April 1, will be spent over a six-year period.

The inquiry, which will hear presentations from Native parents and child care workers, hopes to address such issues as tradiional versus contemporary child-rearing practices, special needs of children in trapping families and jurisdictional issues.

It will make its final report available to National Health and Welfare and all chiefs in Canada.

First Nations officials are optimistic that recommendations surfacing from the inquiry will influence the federal government to accommodate the special needs of Native children.

Public hearings will be held March 14-16 in Winnipeg, Man. And March 20-22 in Vancouver, B.C.