Create Hope and an Echo of Humanity for the Indigenous People

I will not do a retrospective of the year because if we were to use a Quebec thermostat to measure the mood of Canadians in 2015, the needle would have fluctuated in different directions until the last election on October 19, 2015.

Risk factors require that they be recognized and dealt with

A few months ago, I heard a First Nations woman say how happy she was that she had had a child, a beautiful healthy girl. But her next sentence literally froze me to the bone. She said: “I started fearing for my girl because she was a girl”.

Increased awareness regarding the safety and support of women and children

Although there is increased awareness regarding the safety and support of women and children affected by domestic violence, resource constraints create a challenging context for the delivery of effective services and real justice to women and children. In a previous work experience, the department assuring support to the community had one full-time person and one occasional additional person for just so many months a year. The community workers were there to translate and negotiate which made for an inordinate amount of work distributed amongst the agents. It was impossible to ever get it all done.

First Nations and Inuit children are made more vulnerable by the impact of many placements

The welfare of children is a responsibility shared by the entire society, but because of their vulnerability and dependence, some children suffer from poverty, abuse, injustice and inequality of access to protection.

Domestic Violence has Devastating Effects on the Children and Their Future

"We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable" (Unknown author)

My presence at Amnisty International in May 2015 and then my participation at the World’s March for Women October 4th 2015 to honour the missing and assassinated indigenous women has convinced me that it is impossible to dissociate mothers from the children in the project No Child Should Have to Take the Long Way Home.

Are all Canadian Citizens Equal in Value and Dignity?

A simple walk through the streets in any northern community plunges us headfirst into the local culture. In summer, carvers work outdoors feet legged, tools and stones before them, and in winter, we meet women wearing the traditional coat - amauti - their baby nestled in the huge cap.

No Child Should Take the Long Way Home is a grassroot initiative to help children in need of loving care, of a protective and stable environment to meet their basic needs for protection, shelter, and education and to reinforce family unity.

Taking care of communities for the well-being of the children

In Quebec, on average, 70% of Indigenous and Inuit households derive their income from social assistance. Canada is 78th in industrialized countries if we let statistics speak on the poverty of Indigenous and Inuit people. One in four children lives in poverty among Aboriginal and Inuit.

The children disappear behind the numbers and their poverty is concealed behind statistics that reflect a general improvement of the situation, but completely obliterate the disparities in our society.

No Child Should Take the Long Way Home is a grassroots initiative to help children in need of loving care, of a protective and stable environment to meet their basic needs for protection, shelter, and education.

Girls become women

More than 6 000 women and children per day escape violence in Canada. Within these, Indigenous and Inuit women and girls between ages 15 and 34 are three times more likely to be victims of violence than other women in Canada.

No Child Should Take the Long Way Home is a grassroot initiative that wants to reverse the tendency of more Indigenous children from distant communities sent into foster care across the country.

Challenging the “mother blaming” culture

Challenging the “mother blaming” culture

I expect all my blog readers including my French readers to be as curious as I am about the Inuit and their culture. Please share this interest with as many people as you can.

No Child Should Take the Long Way Home is a grassroot initiative to help children in need of loving care, of a protective and stable environment to meet their basic needs for protection, shelter and education in a safe house/respite home in their own community.

Supports in the Canadian Communities

Supporting families to stay together is a community effort. What is needed is to reinforce the capacity of family members to develop better parental competences. The development of a safe community is required to help them through crises and to prevent violence done to children.

No Child Should Have to Take the Long Way Home is a grassroot initiative to help children in need of loving care, of a protective and stable environment to meet their basic needs for protection, shelter and education in a safe house in  their own community.

The family life of the Inuit has been radically altered

With the meeting of the White people, the Inuit people have suffered a cultural upheaval that has questioned their ancestral traditions. Over the last sixty years, the Nunavik Inuit have been facing an unprecedented historical development. The provision of family-centered care would likely build more effective and supportive relationships with women experiencing domestic violence. Education, compassion and service is the way to promote values. Education with cultural sensitivity is the most powerful tool there is.

Quinuituq means deep patience

My immediate plan is to give conferences and hold photo exhibits on the subject of the Inuit reality. When possible, I will also tell legends and Inuit stories in parks and in events along the 8000-kilometer trek. This blog which I called “quinuituq” is an Inuit name meaning “deep patience”. One of the amazing things is that Inuit work together: they are able to view leadership as shared, understanding that the contributions of others are vital and that success comes from collaborative efforts.

The Challenges and Difficulties Facing the Inuit Mothers

Inuit confront the highest cost of living with the lowest national income 

Traditionally, women were responsible for maintaining their families and social order while the traditional roles of men as hunters and providers made them derive satisfaction from being able to take care of their family.

Despite the significant progress made in communities, Inuit continue to confront the highest cost of living with the lowest national income.

The Repercussions of Violence Last a Lifetime

Repercussions that last a lifetime

As a psychotherapist for many years and then in the last few years as a social worker, I've seen first-hand the deep hurt and devastation that chidren feel when their attachment to their parents is compromised.

Moving Forward is a Way of Life for Women

Women tend to be where they are needed. It is not necessarily in elected posts, but the leadership is visible wherever it is about preserving and sustaining culture and families.

When women commit to something, they hang on

It might not be so visible in formal institutional areas of governance, but in the Inuit women’s workshop, leadership was assumed by my dear friend Annie.

Rapid Changes in the Inuit Way of Life Turn the Lives of Some of Their Children Upside Down

Rapid changes have modified the Inuit nomadic way of life

The well-being of the Inuit, both physical and mental are a result of many factors including but not limited to the fact that rapid changes have modified the Inuit nomadic way of life over the past last 50-100 years.