The Breath of Life

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Why Reconciliation matters in Aboriginal child
health
Toronto November 20, 2008
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• For thousands of years, First Nations cared for
  their children

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• Dr. PH Bryce tried his best to raise the alarm
  and get Canada to save Aboriginal children from
  unnecessary death from disease but Canada ignored
  him. There are over 100 known graveyards on
  residential school grounds in Canada

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Canadas Apology to Aboriginal peoples
June 11, 2008 We now recognize that, in
separating children from their families, we
undermined the ability of many to adequately
parent their own children and sowed the seeds for
generations to follow, and we apologize for
having done this.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper
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If you believe children are most valued and .

• Ancestors were mostly wrong
• New knowledge is most valued
• Experts most respected
• Individuals trump collectives
• One divisible reality

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Proportion of Children in Care by Cultural Group
10.23
3.31
0.67
3 sample provinces Wende we are coming to the
light of day(2005)
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The only factors that explain the over
representation of First Nations children in care
are poverty, poor housing and substance misuse
which are aggravated by gross deficits in service
access
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Non Aboriginal First Nations
Gaps in child and family support
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Gap in government funded voluntary sector
services by race
For every 2379.31 government pays for a non
Aboriginal person it gives 34 cents to a First
Nations Person on reserve
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Why Many interventions miss the mark
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But what if you believed in this worldview What
child health system would you create?
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Imagine

• That all reality is interconnected across time
• There are multiple dimensions of reality
• Ancestral knowledge mattered
• Humanity is defined in reference and connection
  to the natural world
• There is no inanimate world
• The most complex phenomena can be explained by
  simple principles..

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Sound familiar?
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Physics Theory of Everything

• Believes the world of the big (universe) and the
  world of the small (atoms) are ruled by the same
  principles
• There are a limited number of physical constants
  and if one is changed slightly then our universe
  ceases to exist
• Atomic particles join together in circular
  strings thus binding the world of big and small.
  Vibrations of strings gives shape to different
  matter and time.
• There are at least 10 different dimensions of
  reality only one we can see.

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Starlight

• The universe is so large, the light of the oldest
  stars created when the universe was born is just
  reaching us now

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Ancestral knowledge

• The light of the first ancestors is still
  imprinting on Aboriginal children and families
  today handed down by oral history, ceremony,
  ritual and role modeling.
• Supreme court has ruled that FN oral history
  meets the standards of western written evidence
  in the famous Delgamuuk decision.

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Self Determination Indigenous knowledge and the
Breath of Life Theory
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Applying Breath of Life to Children's Welfare
World of the Big (Interconnection of time,
reality, nature and humanity)
BA LANCED FOCU S
Predictable
Structural assets and risk
Expressed physically, mentally, emotionally and
spiritually
Relational Worldview Principles Physical
water, food, shelter Emotional Belonging
(attachment to family and community) Spiritual
spirituality and life purpose Cognitive self
and community actualization, identity,
service Principles are interdependent -
optimal functioning achieved when balance is
achieved within and among all dimensions
Cultural and contextual strings give rise to
different manifestations of humanity
BALANCEDFOCUS
Predi ctable
Expressed physically, mentally, emotionally and
spiritually
Cross, 2007
Assets and risk to groups of children and families
Breath of Life Blackstock, 2008
World of the Small (individuals or groups)
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• Many Hands One Dream Principles in Action

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• Many Hands One Dream Principles
• Self Determination
• Culture and Language
• Structural Interventions
• Best of Both Worlds
• Non Discrimination
• Holistic Response

Manyhandsonedream.ca
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Jordans Principle

• Where a jurisdictional dispute develops regarding
  services for a status Indian child and those
  services are otherwise available to Canadian
  children- the government of first contact pays
  for the service and figures out the
  jurisdictional dispute later.

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Facts about Jordans Principle

• It applies to ALL government services available
  to other children including health, education,
  child care.
• It requires that governments meet the needs of
  children as the first priority. Case conferences
  or setting up implementation measures are
  secondary and should not delay meeting the
  childs needs.
• It establishes the principle of equality which
  is a basic right guaranteed under the Charter and
  UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• See fact sheet on Jordans Principle
  fncaringsociety.com

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• Attawapiskat School Campaign
• Why Jordans Principle needs to be implemented in
  Ontario

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• Government
• will not
• clean up
• the spill.

The contaminated school
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• Three federal Indian Affairs Ministers promised a
  new school

The children are still waiting
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You can help

• Advocate with the Territorial governments to
  fully implement Jordans Principle

• Go on line to sign up for Jordans Principle as
  an individual or organization- fncaringsociety.com

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• The Human Rights Case against Canada Alleging
  Chronic and inequitable child welfare funding

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• In February of 2007, AFN and FN Caring Society
  took action and filed a human rights complaint
  with the Canadian Human Rights Commission
  alleging INAC consciously underfunds FN child
  welfare on reserves resulting in growing numbers
  of FN children going into child welfare care.

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Canadas Actions during human Rights Case

• INAC has refused mediation twice and has
  questioned the jurisdiction of the Commission to
  hear the complaint.
• Auditor General of Canada (2008) found that
  INACs old funding formula (Directive 20-1) as
  well as the one they are proposing as a
  replacement based on the Alberta Model are
  inequitable.
• INAC argues there is no evidence of
  discrimination in its child welfare funding
  policy but cites no independent evidence to
  support its case.
• Canadian Human Rights Commission has formally
  accepted the complaint despite INACs objections
  and referred it to tribunal

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• November 14, 2008
• INAC has advised it will ask for a judicial
  review of the CHRC decision again on judicial
  fairness grounds yet another technicality

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you can help

• Open letter to government asking them to stop
  raising technical objections and allow the case
  to be heard on its merits at tribunal
• Write to your MP and say you want equality for FN
  children across government services
• Make a donation to support the HR campaign

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You can make a difference!
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• Reconciliation

Some say it will take a Miracle
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• There are only two ways to live your life. One is
  as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as
  though everything is a miracle.
• Albert Einstein

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I Believe

• In the Miracle of Reconciliation. It happens in
  the small moments when people with good hearts
  and minds come together

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• Its about the kind of relationship we want our
  Aboriginal and non Aboriginal children to have
• Elder Cecil Reid

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• What is the most important thing we need to make
  reconciliation happen?

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Each other
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• Reconciliation Means following their good
  example

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• Its honoring all those who suffered by doing the
  right thing for Aboriginal children now

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• A safe and affordable house with enough food to
  eat

• Understanding that many times Safety means

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It means understanding that

• Ignorance makes discrimination possible and
  Silence makes it powerful

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It means understanding that

• Hope makes reconciliation possible, Love and
  Respect make it Powerful

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Norway House Cree Nation families and leaders and
MP Jean Crowder join Jordans sister, Jerlene,
and father, Ernest, Anderson on the day Jordans
Principle passed unanimously
in the House of Commons
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• Reconciliation
• is about her future

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• and their futures too

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Reconciliation means standing up and being
counted
Shannen Koostachin, 13 Spokesperson for the
Children of Attawapiskat First Nation School
Campaign, House of Commons, May 29, 2008
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Reconciliation is about Working for our common
future National Chief Phil Fontaine, Assembly of
First Nations
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• Make A Difference Now that you can

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• I Believe in miracles do you?

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If it takes a miracle let it come
www.fncaringsociety.com