Children's recovery a challenge

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When the gasoline-sniffing kids of Davis Inlet made headlines earlier this year, Ruth Morin knew their recovery would be a challenge. Like everyone else, she saw the images of despondent, gasoline-stoned children rolling around in an unheated fallen-down shack. She heard them cry out in Innu "We want to die. We want to die."

The desperate images shocked the country. But Morin, director of Poundmaker's Adolescent Centre, says the deplorable situation is not all that unusual.

"I think that there are many children across the nation who are suffering to a great degree," she says. "They just usually don't come en masse."

While their circumstances may not be unusual, the media attention has. Morin has tried to move the public eye away from the 19 Davis Inlet children since they arrived at Poundmaker's in March. Interviewed during Poundmaker's powwow, Morin stressed the normality of her charges.

"These are normal, wonderful loving children," she says. "I don't want them to be exploited any more by the media. I just want them to get their treatment."

Morin also says there is nothing sensational about their gasoline sniffing. She says they used gasoline as a coping mechanism simply because it was the substance most readily available to them.

"If alcohol would have been available, it would have been alcohol."

Still, Morin admits the children, who have a reputation for being difficult, have settled down somewhat in the five months with Poundmaker's. Indeed, at first they were so disruptive that they were removed form the Adolescent Centre in St. Paul and relocated to a wilderness camp on the nearby Saddle Lake Reserve.

"They really tried to hurt each other, to inflict real pain and suffering."

But months of counselling sessions have left their mark.

"They are getting better in that they are starting to identify their feelings, such as the feeling of anger, and the appropriate response," she said. "They are progressing very positively in their treatment and, of course, at varying degrees because treatment is a very individual thing."

Morin added that powwows have become an important part of the children's recovery.

"It's an important part of being an Aboriginal Canadian and we wanted them to experience it."

The experience has proven therapeutic - one of the boys made an outfit from eagle feathers and porcupine hair to compete in a grand entry dance at the Poundmaker's and Saddle Lake powwows.

Others are noticing the improvement, too. One man, who asked not to be identified, said the children drove a family member to quit counselling - temporarily.

"They would hang on to you all at once and pull you down. They were afraid to let go."

Now, he watches with amazement as one of those same children dances to the rhythm of the powwow drum. He said the change is remarkable.

"They were wild in the beginning, just like animals. Now they have manners and you can take them out in public."

While Morin is pleased with the children's progress thus far, she said their biggest challenge will be returning to Davis Inlet. She's already heard that one of her charges, a 17 year-old girl who recently returned home, has starting sniffing again. And then there are the accusations of sexual assault to deal with.

"I think the Davis Inlet community is doing the best they can to cope with it," Morin said wistfully.

In January, the Innu of Davis Inlet put forth a seven-point recovery plan for the community. The plan isn't in place yet - details are still being worked out with Ottawa

and St. John's. Still, it's the only safeguard the children have when they return home.

If the fact that the plan may not be in place for quite some time bothers Morin, she doesn't let it show.

"We have to have faith in what we are doing," she says. "If we don't, then nothing we've been doing matters."