First Micmac day care reflects Native values

Page R8

You can hear the kids playing in the next room of the new Mi'KMaq Child Development Centre if central Halifax as Christine Gibson smiles with the knowledge that the centre if finally opening.

"This community has been dreaming about something like this for 25 years.

It's sometimes been frustrating but it's finally all coming together," says Gibson.

The centre, the first of its kind in the Maritimes and one of very few off-reserve child care centres in the country, opened officially Sept. 9, and Gibson, the centre's co-ordinator has good reason to bubble with enthusiasm.

After months of delays and years of organizing a tremendous community effort, the centre will provide day care service for more than 30 Aboriginal children with an all-Aboriginal staff.

And day care is only the beginning of the services at the new centre.

"We want this to reflect our community," said Gibson, an Algonquin from Smiths Falls, Ont. "This isn't like a non-Native day care. We're taking a holistic approach to children, emphasizing their language, culture and history. It's more than just a day care centre."

The centre, situated on the main level of a stone school house built in 1919, has three spacious play areas, office space for about 20 child care workers and program directors, a parents' resource centre, lending library, kitchen and bathroom space.

Gibson says many Aboriginal parents living off reserve find that most non-Native day cares just don't do enough for their kids. "It's not deliberate," said Gibson. "But there is an ignorance of our culture in non-Native day care centres. There's no encouragement of our Native tongue, and they don't recognize the differences in our culture, like recognizing that a Native child's family is more than just their parents, but could be their aunts, uncles or even people they aren't blood relations to. That's what our centre's all about. We give that positive reinforcement so children feel like they're part of our community."

Going out into the community is part of the centre's mandate- it includes a licensed home child care program. The idea is for Aboriginal parents to be part of a parenting circle, a kind of child care co-op. The parents are trained in providing child care in their own homes for the children of other parents in the program, and share the child care back and forth when they need it.

"A good example is a couple from Saskatchewan that just moved down," said Lee Thomas, who works on the home care program. ""They didn't know anyone else, let alone any other Native families. They didn't know what to do with their kids. Then they found out about us, found out about the other Native families involved and got to know them."

"It's funny," said Thomas. "When you start talking about child care, the front door starts to close in your face. But as soon as you say the word "Mi'KMaq," the door opens up and they peek out again."

Aside from the home care program, parents can use resources at the centre, including services volunteered by local Aboriginal professionals.

The day care runs educational courses for parents on nutrition, fetal alcohol syndrome prevention, and tips on parenting; Parents can learn about everything from how to shop o a budget to how to convince a four year old to eat vegetables. The centre has programs on culture, history and art, including a weekly visits by experienced craftspeople and local Elders, making it a place for both parents and their kids to meet others in their community and learn about their culture.

The idea of community building is part of the reason the centre exists, explained Gordon King. King is the director of the Micmac Native Friendship Centre, a community resources organization in downtown Halifax. He hopes the Mi'KMaq Child Development Centre will give Aboriginal people a fresh start, teaching their children to know, respect and love the culture they come from.

"The name of the centre speaks for itself," said King. Mi'KMaq child devlopment. it's a big step for the community, and only good things can come out of it.

King's faith runs deeper than just words. The friendship centre has had to spend $20,000 more than it budgeted to get the Child Development Centre on its feet because

of delays and red tape with the centre's landlord, the City of Halifax. Gibson said although the provincial government has approved the centre as a fully licensed child care, the license won't be in place until the centre's renovations have been completely finished.

And that means no money from the province until then. The friendship centre has had to pick up the slack. In order to complete renovations, the Child Development Centre has had to wait for each of the organizations that were renting space in the centre's new home to move out. Add to that the fact the building's zoning definition had to be changed but the facility's scheduled opening was delayed more than six months.

But municipal confusion aside, Gibson said the centre has gotten clear sailing from the powers that be.

"One thing I've learned is to find out which politician isn't using this as a platform, which one really believes in this," he said.

The centre has gotten help from Halifax MP Mary Clancy, Nova Scotia Premier John Savage, the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women, church donations, community auctions, local business donations, national Native interest groups and individual parents.

"In an urban environment like this, we're all at risk of losing our culture, because we're isolated from others of our people," said Gibson. "When I first took this job two years ago, people told me 'we don't need another study, we need to do something,' Now we've done it. We're restoring that connection with out history, our language, our Elders. Our children won't be like us, or our grandparents. We want to ensure our children's future."