EXCERPTS
Coming together in grief and mourning — but also in solidarity and joy — is the way forward as Canada prepares to mark a national day of listening and learning from Indigenous voices.
The last several weeks, and even the last year and beyond, have been filled with grief and trauma for all Canadians, said the executive director of a Windsor-based Indigenous child care centre.
It’s a challenge Ska:na Family Learning Centre is prepared to meet on Wednesday — as part of the national “A Day to Listen” event.
“We are trauma-informed (and for) Indigenous people, that means looking at how we can move forward through a lot of the issues today,” said Faith Hale, the centre’s executive director.
Ska:na follows the Anishinaabe way of life known as mino-bimaadiziwin, or “living the good life.”
It means helping urban Indigenous families reconnect with their heritage through food, medicines, stories, language and song.
Ska:na will observe A Day to Listen with their families at noon on Wednesday with songs and storytelling.
Billed as a national collaboration between the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund and Canadian radio, A Day to Listen aims to amplify, elevate and learn from the voices of Indigenous people.
Many Canadians are mired in grief or disbelief as graves of hundreds of children — the existence of which have been known for years by Indigenous communities — are now being uncovered at residential school sites across the country.
While it’s an important moment, Wednesday will also be treated much like any other day at the Indigenous-led child care centre, Hale said.
“For Indigenous people with allof what’s happening with residential schools, we’re regaining our ceremonies, our ways of knowing and being,” she said.
“People are practicing their language, their prayers, ceremonial foods. When this is all put into practice, it’s re-learning.
“It’s powerful when you begin to live this way of life. It’s not just Wednesday. It’s every day. It’s right now. It’s moving from practice to living.”
Ska:na serves about 125 families in the Windsor area, with additional centres in Sarnia and Chatham-Kent.
We need to understand this grief together as a whole society
During the pandemic, they began offering online services which have ballooned in terms of their reach into parts of the U.S. and rural Canadian communities.
For Ska:na, being “trauma informed” means acknowledging the impact of trauma on kids early in life and “walking with” families through the process of healing — especially now, Hale said.
“Trauma is not one area of treatment, it’s holistic,” she said “Every individual and family prescribes what it is they need so we’re able to meet their needs. The most important part is giving people the power they need to create change in their lives.”
Ska:na has an important role to play in child care because, among Indigenous people, it’s a place for urban Indigenous families to learn, she said.
“Families and children come and learn language, culture, connecting in the community,” Hale said. “It’s not (just) a service they pay for in order to go to work. There’s a lot of holistic design and belief we build into our work, so we’re better servicing families and their needs.”
Hale said the No. 1 question she gets right now is how to support Indigenous people given the extent of the residential school tragedy.
Wearing orange on July 1 is a good start as it “shows solidarity for what’s happening with residential schools and the mass graves,” she said.
“But it’s more important that people have education,” Hale said. “We need to understand this grief together as a whole society.
“If you’re Indigenous, Metis, Inuit — tell people. If you’re not, join us wherever we are and join the celebration. Do not let fear stop us from coming together. Let’s come together, let’s create change.”