Restoring at risk communities-doing it together in the pursuit of social justice

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P., Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs says it very well: ‘’Children are our future, and to give them the best possible start in life, we must collectively move from an intervention-based approach of apprehension and protection to prevention-based approaches to community, families and children's rights and well-being. There needs to be better access to mental health services, children need to be protected from sexual exploitation and children’s rights need better protection.

Working in genuine partnership with First Nations is critical to developing community-led solutions for reform that will reduce the number of children in care and result in better health, education and economic outcomes.”

Overcrowded housing of the most northern communities contributes to the maintenance and rise of social problems

The purpose of the project No Child Should Take the Long Way Home in its final objective is to empower mothers in Nunavik communities in Quebec, Canada to become safer, to be aware of their legal rights, and families to understand the risk factors leading to the removal of their children. Safety standards for women and for children must be designed in services offered to the population of isolated communities.

Overcrowded housing in northern communities contributes to the maintenance and rise of social problems and largely affects safety issues in Nunavik and Nunavut's women and children.

Mothers should have a safe place to go to with their children

In April 2016, I embarked on an 8,000-kilometer walk across Canada to:
1- Raise Canadians' awareness of the reality of Inuit women and children in Nunavik, Quebec;
2- Raise funds to build a safe house for the children of a Nunavik village in northern Quebec.

To date, I have covered five thousand five-hundred and eighty-two kilometres in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, parts of Ontario and Quebec.

No Child Should Take the Long Way Home is seeking solutions to counter the number of placements Inuit children are subjected to and to help the mothers recover their children. On September 26th, I had covered 5582 kilometres. The next lap from Rossport, Ontario (2418) should bring me to the end of the 8000-kilometre journey.

Differences and similarities between First Nations and Inuit of Canada.

A few weeks ago, I was asked about the differences and similarities between First Nations and Inuit of Canada.

Faced with a daunting list of seemingly unrelated similarities and differences between First Nations and Inuit people, one may feel confused about them.

So, I propose to look at some of the main differences while exposing some of their similarities.

The perspective of potentially ruining a child’s outcomes claims my commitment

The point I want to make here is that the perspective of potentially ruining a child’s outcomes claimed my commitment when I was working up North in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada.

It was the hardest work I have ever had to do and you have to have done it to say something like: "On Monday mornings, I put myself in button-responsive mode and I will reflect on what I have done when I leave here for good" (my co-worker's words to me when I complained about never being allowed by supervisor to think things through for the best of the people and the children). No Child Should Take the Long Way Home aims to reduce the number of placements children have to face in Nunavik.

The assumption that Indigenous people can move on shines light on our heartlessness

Before anyone judges the Inuit of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, it is important to understand the history behind the issues. We must remember that, as North Americans, our collective ancestry decimated their populations with violence and new diseases.

The turmoil and anguish they had to go through are evident. Yet, they are still not provided the same opportunities we have even though they were "Canadian" even before we were.

Self-perpetuating systems ensure the failure of families

On Thanksgiving, there were more Indigenous children in Canada sitting at stranger's tables timidly eating someone's turkey instead of sharing a special time with their own family, be they aunties, uncles and/or grandparents. Canada’s colonial practice of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families did not end with the closing of Indian residential schools. It continues today in the form of provincial and territorial child welfare systems, which remove Indigenous children and youth at alarmingly high rates.

No Child Should Take the Long Way Home seeks solutions that have been tried by other Canadians to keep apprehended children close to their communities as an alternative to flying them out thousands of kilometers away.

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P., Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs says it very well:  ''Children are our future, and to give them the best possible start in life, we must collectively move from an intervention-based approach of apprehension and protection to prevention-based approaches to community, families and children's rights and well-being. Working in genuine partnership with First Nations is critical to developing community-led solutions for reform that will reduce the number of children in care and result in better health, education and economic outcomes.''