Excerpts
The region’s first Indigenous-led child care centre is being established at 30 Christopher Dr. in Cambridge with prioritized, culturally responsive programming for infants and children to age four. It is expected to open in early 2025.
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Having grown up with a father who was subjected to the residential school system, Dubie, a Mohawk of the Six Nations Territory, said his past kept her brothers and her away from their culture.
“He brought us up in that residential school mentality, even though we didn’t go there,” she said.
“I know for myself that we can bring culture back, we can bring our language back, we can bring our ceremonies back,” Dubie told the region’s community health and services committee, which approved a recommendation directing staff to enter into a five-year lease agreement for the child care centre earlier this week.
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It will provide up to 65 child care spaces for children from across the region under the Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care program, however Indigenous children will be prioritized.
After running a camp for youth earlier this year, Dubie said she realized just how far some children are removed from their native culture, but also how many children and their families were drawn to the drummings, smudgings and various Indigenous customs after trying them for the first time.
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