Top News - September -2001 Published September 17, 2001 Grade 6 student Blair Gordon shows the imprint of his hand on a concrete insert in the wall of the new Chief Pasqwa Education Centre, located on the Pasqua First Nation. When construction began last year, students placed their hands on a piece of concrete in order to commemorate the children that would be attending the school. The new school opened for the first day of classes on Sept. 4. Photo by Stephen LaRose Office expands to better serve First Nations children New program reaches out to youth Standing Buffalo gets own fire department This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the September 2001 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sage, then you have missed out on a lot. Office expands to better serve First Nations children Cheryl Petten, Sage Writer, Saskatoon Shaun Soonias and Elaine Thomas are working to help ensure the voices of Aboriginal children and youth across Saskatchewan are being heard. As the two newest members of the Saskatchewan Children's Advocate Office, it's their job to advocate on behalf of the provinces' children. And as members of Saskatchewan First Nations-Thomas is from Beardy's and Okemasis, while Soonias is from Red Pheasant First Nation-the two will be working to help the office form closer ties with Aboriginal communities and service providers across the province. "This office has been in existence for about six years. And all along, I think we've known that we wanted to hire First Nations people to work as advocates with us," said Children's Advocate Debra Parker-Loewen. "But two years ago we conducted a review of the needs of children living in foster care. And in our province, at least 70 per cent of the children in foster care are a member of a First Nation, and another 10 or 15 per cent are Aboriginal children-either Métis children or non-status children. And so a large percentage of the children that we serve are members of a First Nation." The role of the Children's Advocate Office is to advocate on the behalf of children who are under the care of the provincial government, or are receiving services from a provincial government department or agency. "Our office looks at, reviews and investigates any matter related to government services affecting a child or group of children," Soonias explained. "So that can be young offender systems, social services, mental health. And basically we negotiate, if we can, a non-adversarial way, a resolution, to whatever that matter is. We can also do more of a formal investigation into things that aren't able to be solved just through a meeting with some of the key stakeholders." Thomas brings a background in service provision and education to her role as advocate. In 1991, she received a Bachelor of Indian Social Work, and in the 10 years since has worked with Child and Family Services at Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation, as well as with Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. She also worked as a liaison officer within the school system, providing a link between parent and school, and working with children and their families. That experience, Thomas explained, has served her well in her new role as advocate. "It has actually helped me a great deal, because I've seen what the child welfare system can do to children and their families," Thomas said. "And I feel by being here, not necessarily as a First Nations advocate, but an advocate for the general population, I can help protect the rights of children, and to ensure that their voices are heard, and the their rights are respected. And also to work more with the First Nations communities, because there's not very much in terms of information out there regarding the Children's Advocate Office in First Nations country. So that needs to be explored further. And by having Shaun and I in this office, that can take place." Soonias' previous experience has also served him well in his new role. He spent seven years working with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) in a number of positions, the most recent in the areas of education and justice. Prior to joining the Children's Advocate office, he'd spent just under a year as manager of Aboriginal human resources at the University of Saskatchewan. Both his work at the FSIN and the university provided him with a good understanding of First Nations governance, and the direction First Nations are going in terms of providing social services to their members, he said. With two new advocates now on staff, reaching out more to First Nation's communities is one of the goals of the Children's Advocate's Office, Parker-Loewen explained. "I think, really, essentially, we've doubled our front line advocate staff. We had two advocates travelling throughout the province up until Shaun and Elaine joined us, and now there are four. And so, just virtually by increasing the concentration of our service, I think we're hoping, all four of the advocates will be making increased contacts with various First Nations agencies, particularly those that deliver services to children, such as child welfare services." Increasing awareness of what the Children's Advocate Office is and does is another priority. In an effort to try to increase that awareness in the north, the office is joining forces with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and the Provincial Ombudsman to do a tour of northern Saskatchewan. "I think all three of our offices recognized that the north is an area that certainly requires our services, but also they need to be introduced to our services, because we certainly don't get the kind of calls from the north as we do from the south. And I think we all know that there are certain issues up north that can certainly utilize advocates, as well as provincial ombudsman and human rights representatives," Soonias said. "This is kind of, I think, the first year that this office has been starting to travel in an extensive manner in the north. So I think we've recognized that the north is a priority area for our office to introduce our services and to help advocate for the kids up north." Representatives from the three offices will hold public meetings in Stony Rapids on Oct. 1, Fond-du-Lac on Oct. 2, Sandy Bay and Pelican Narrows on Oct. 3, and in Creighton Oct. 5. Although a special effort is being made to reach out to First Nations communities in the northern part of the province, that doesn't mean that the south is being left out, Soonias explained. "Even in the south, I don't think that they know about our office enough. So part of what we're doing is contacting different group homes, and Indian Child and Family Services (ICFS) throughout the province. We're going to provide presentations to the staff and any youth in their group homes or treatment centres, just to make sure that our office has the kind of exposure that we need in order to serve the province." "I think the functions of our office are such that organizations that provide direct services to children need to understand that we are, as they are, wanting to have high quality services provided to children," Parker-Loewen explained. "We also have a fair amount of authority to review complaints about those organizations, which would include some of the First Nations operated agencies. And so there's lots of educating we need to do with each other, so that we understand what their goals and objectives are and they understand what ours are." The fact that the office does have the authority to review complaints and make recommendations can make developing good relations with service providers a challenge. "I feel there is a bit of, I guess, kind of being fearful, because of the power and authority of the office," Thomas conceded. The way to try to put those fears to rest, she said, "is going out there and increasing public awareness that we are also here to help, and not to work against any provincial organization or ICFS agencies. And just to let them know that we want to work hand-in-hand with them, and to improve the system for the children." "My experience, having been here now for the full six years, is that once they fully understand that our goals are not dissimilar to theirs-we really want children to receive quality services, that their rights are respected, that their entitlements are in place-that most organizations are actually quite happy to have us involved." Parker-Loewen said. "If they've done something that's contrary to their policies or their legislation, they usually want to improve their own situation, too. I really think that organizations do truly want to provide a quality service, and they are often strapped for resources. They don't have the capacity to provide the services that they would themselves like to provide. Our office can help them in that regard, because we can make a very formal recommendation that they have to provide these kinds of services, which gives them leverage to advocate on their own behalf as well." "We're not here to try to, if we investigate, to try and place blame with a worker or some other staff that might have been involved with the youth. Our primary concern is to advocate on behalf of that youth, to ensure that their rights are being respected," Soonias said."We're not here to get people fired. I don't think that's ever been an issue with this office. We're just here to make sure that the youth are being respected within the system, that they're being listened to. And we're just trying to get them what they need and what they want. It doesn't always work, but certainly other agencies, I think, respect our office enough and usually know about our office-what we do-enough, to try and work with us for the benefit of the child." "We don't believe we're the only advocate for children," Parker-Loewen emphasized. "The reality is that families and communities need to be advocates for their own children. We're only here as a last resort, when it comes to specific kinds of issues related to children. But the real advocacy work, the day to day advocacy work, needs to come from every family and every community, and all of the people that care about these children on a daily basis. Because it's not just an advocate's office like this that's going to make changes for children. It really has to come from the community." "It's just like that saying," Thomas added. "It takes a whole community to raise a child." For more information about the Saskatchewan Children's Advocate Office, visit the office's Web site at http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/childadvocate, or call the office at 1-800-322-7221. Top New program reaches out to youth Pamela Sexsmith, Sage Writer, Lloydminster There is a brand new sense of vitality, energy and enthusiasm in the air at the Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre (LNFC), due in no small part to new staff members Lawrence Gervais, Kelly Zacharias and Rhonda Smith, and their innovative programming for Aboriginal youth in the Border City. Record numbers of teens are finding their way to the LNFC, from the city, surrounding towns and nearby reserves. For 18 students from Lloydminster, Onion Lake First Nation and Kitscoty,Alta., the summer highlight of the new youth outreach program was a three-day trip to the Wolfchild Cultural Camp, located near Morinville, Alta. Facilitated by respected teachers and spiritual advisors William Blake and Carola Cunningham, the camp was set up in a tipi village located on 27 acres of preserved natural land, complete with lake and forest settings. Travelling by van on July 17, the students and counsellors left the comforts of town behind, knowing that they would be learning to raise their own lodges, gather fire wood and cut willow branches for a sweatlodge. It was getting up early with the sun and going to bed by sunset that proved to be the greatest challenge, along with washing their faces in an ice cold lake, explained counsellor Rhonda Smith. "We were all responsible for raising our own tipis, and to test ourselves, we had a tipi challenge, males against the females. I was surprised at the time it takes to learn the skill. It doesn't just happen," Smith said. In the males versus female tipi challenge, the girls beat the guys hands down. The champion tipi builder turned out to be Michelle Daniels. "I learned pretty quickly how to raise a lodge, and even with way more boys than girls, we still beat them at putting up the tipis," said Daniels. "Michelle did help the boys with their tipis, gave them some support and helped give them back their dignity," explained Zacharias, with a laugh. "Historically, that was their role. The women did it all; put up lodges made of 13 bison hides sewn together weighing over 800 pounds, wrapped around 14 poles," he added. During the camp, the girls helped prepare a feast of hearty traditional foods while the boys gathered wood, tended fires and built a sweatlodge. "Everyone but one female joined in the sweatlodge," said Zacharias. "One girl was on her moon time, and Carola explained to everybody, especially the boys who had asked, why this girl did not go in. She talked about the Native spirituality and the values within it, and how this young girl was more powerful than the sweatlodge during her moon time and why she could not go in because of that. "Willie and Carola made it very clear through their teaching, that women were like the Mother Earth, that they are more powerful than men and always would be; the givers of life, and that in our Native culture, the women would be the ones who would lead us back to ourselves. They taught us that along with the respect," said Zacharias. This groundbreaking trip should set the stage for future expeditions that emphasis hands-on learning of traditional culture and survival skills. "It was a very good experience for our youth and hopefully we will have the funding for more camps next summer," said Gervais, the new director of the LNFC. Top Standing Buffalo gets own fire department Stephen LaRose, Sage Writer, Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation There's another chief on the Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. But Chief Mel Isnana doesn't mind at all. Isnana and about 50 band members spent a Friday afternoon watching seven other band members - Tim Yuzicappi, Dione Yuzicappi, Greg Yuzicappi, Aaron Yuzicappi, Trevelen Yuzicappi, Nadine Deegan and Nelson Goodwill- fight a structure fire on an abandoned house on the reserve. This was their final exercise before graduating from a 160-hour course to become level one firefighters. For their efforts, the seven have become charter members of the Standing Buffalo Fire Department. For Standing Buffalo's new fire chief, it's a matter of personal pride and community responsibility. "Earlier this spring I saw a fire in a house on the reserve that we could have handled," said Trevelen Yuzicappi. "But by the time the Fort [Qu'Appelle] fire department got here, the fire was too far gone." Yuzicappi was one of several band members who signed up to take part in the firefighting course. "I knew we were getting a fire truck, but none of us had the training," he added. "By the beginning of July we were getting our training. "We've already tackled car fires and a grass fire up top. It's been so dry ... we put that out on a Thursday, then again on a Friday, and Sunday it was on fire again." For the band's chief it was an important moment, as the band now takes responsibility for fighting fires on the reserve. "We're constantly getting different calls about various fires around the community," said Isnana. "Though we had a good relationship with the Fort Qu'Appelle Fire Department, we thought we should have our own fire department now. We have our own buildings now and new homes coming up every year." In addition to about 150 homes, Standing Buffalo also has a personal care home, band offices, a health clinic, a school -and now a fire hall. The First Nation spent about $50,000 on equipping the new fire department, not counting a reconditioned fire truck purchased in Winnipeg, Isnana added. More band members may apply for firefighting training when another series of courses is offered this fall. About 50 Standing Buffalo band members came to watch the new firefighters put their new skills into practice Aug. 24, as the old abandoned house was set on fire several times. At the end, the house was allowed to burn to the ground as the firefighters practiced saving area buildings and pushing in the walls of the burning structure, to prevent flaming debris from raining down on others. The exercise was a good way to show off their newly acquired talents, said Randy Korde, the course's main instructor. "The last four weeks they've gone through the course, they've gone though learning basic fire behavior, techniques on how to approach the fire, to put on the proper ventilation - basically, how to put out a fire in a matter of minutes and how to do it safely." It wasn't all work for Standing Buffalo's firefighters, however. The new recruits visited the provincial First Nations' firefighting competition in early August on Muskoday First Nation. "We just watched," said Yuzicappi. "Next year we'll be qualified to enter." Fourteen of Saskatchewan's 74 First Nations have their own fire departments. Top