Aboriginal Child Care in Review (Part Two)

Aboriginal Child Care in Review (Part Two)
by Margo Greenwood

On January 26, 1995, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) organized a Child Care Forum where the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, Minister responsible for Human Resources Development Canada, and the Honourable Ethel Blondin, Secretary of State, announced that the federal government had placed a priority on addressing First Nations and Inuit child day care needs. The first step in keeping this commitment was a decision by the federal government to set aside $72 million for a three-year developmental period and $36 million ongoing thereafter.

The overall goal of the First Nations Inuit Child Care Initiative was to ensure that 6,000 quality child day care spaces would be available to First Nations and Inuit parents by the end of the three-year developmental period. The intent of the Initiative was not to be comprehensive, but to provide First Nations and Inuit parents with children under the age of six years with child day care services at least comparable to those in the general population. This new funding was meant to focus on the creation of new child day care spaces and the enhancement of existing ones so that all spaces are of high quality and meet the unique needs of First Nations and Inuit communities.

The new funding was also to complement existing services and programs so that communities could build holistic services to meet the needs of their children and families. To ensure the holistic, unique nature of First-Nations-specific child day care services, one of the fundamental principles underlying the overall initiative is for First Nations and Inuit to direct, design and deliver services in their communities including direct involvement in developing the overall child day care program framework prior to Cabinet approval.

The desire to create a new way of developing social programs was expressed by both Grant Chief Ovide Mercredi and the Honourable Minister Lloyd Axworthy. Grant Chief Ovide Mercredi spoke of the First Nations/Inuit Child Care Initiative as having to:

…address our special needs as Indian people in terms of our culture, our language, in terms of flexible arrangements in our governments in our dealings with the federal government.

... in the past, the relationship was that of a ward of the government and the approach that the governments took in relation to us in programs was to make decisions for us. Over the years, that system has changed to the point where governments are now realizing they have to consult with us, but even that system of consultation is inadequate.

Now there is a new government moving toward the recognition of our inherent right to make decisions respecting our people and that the move toward a partnership in decision-making is, in effect, what is possible...

In his opening address Minister, Axworthy confirmed the government’s desire to look at new and different ways of working in partnership with First Nations. He also viewed child care as “a service that reaches out to families that may not need the child care but still need some support for families along the way... We can't help deal with early development needs of children
and we can’t respond to what is going on in the economy unless we have in this country an effective child care system.”

Presentations also focused on the role of child care as a vehicle for cultural transmission, the advantages of quality care on children’s development and the overall social support child care can provide to children and families.

Elder Tom Porter spoke of the First Nations Child Care Initiatives “as a system that will give our children a better lifestyle.” He went on to say:

The Elders told me we must never lose our language, because when we lose our language that’s when there’ll be no more Indians. When we lose our spiritual ceremonies, and don’t wear Indian clothing, then there’ll be no Indian. When the Indian is no longer, who will make the environment safe and protect it? A strong identity will protect the children.

... the reason many of our children have trouble is because many of their grandparents went to residential schools and were forced to assimilate into mainstream culture. At these schools, our languages and our ceremonies were prohibited. What was taken away was the nourishment that a father, mother and auntie give on a daily basis. When the people returned from the residential schools, they had no example of father or motherhood. So, dysfunctional families began.

The Indian way was loving and holistic. Let’s raise our kids in that loving Indian way. For the children, let’s do it.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Secretary of State, also spoke of the need to find new ways of working in partnership with First Nations communities in developing social programs. Services have failed because Native communities have not had input into their design, their content and their implementation. In fact, communities have been alienated from all aspects of decision-making that relate to programming — including the funding of programs and the training of service providers.

As a result, programs are not based upon the needs of the particular communities and they are not culturally relevant. If programs are to succeed, those who are affected by them must have control from the initial stage of identifying community needs to the final stage of evaluating a program’s effectiveness.

Ms. Blondin-Andrew went on to discuss the importance of quality child care services and the broader context of child development services:

I’m not suggesting that all of the problems relating to Aboriginal young people can be blamed on poor child care. But several studies demonstrate that quality care can give a child a solid emotional, intellectual, and social foundation from which to grow. I can’t help believing that quality services would have a strong impact on the number of on-reserve children placed in the care of social services. That number is still four times the national average.

On reserves, 24 per cent of families are headed by a single parent, usually a mother. The high school dropout rate in some Aboriginal communities is as high as 90 per cent. That’s three times the national average. Of course it follows that the unemployment rate is going to be high. It’s twice the national average. On some reserves, it is as high as 95 per cent.

We have considered child care within a broader context of child development services. So we will be interested to see how comprehensive services could bring together child development, family support, and child care services.

This evident need for child day care services by First Nations communities points to the need for the establishment of a comprehensive system of child day care services that meets the unique needs of First Nations communities. The First Nations/Inuit Child Care Program serves as a starting point to begin meeting that need. Development of this child care program was based on a unique partnership between the federal government, First Nations and Inuit. First Nations and Inuit people, for the first time, had a voice in the development of a program for their children, families and communities.

The First Nations/Inuit Child Care Initiative has now completed its final year of the three-year developmental period. Child care services on reserves and in Inuit communities have been or are in the process of being established in each province and territory. Support services such as Early Childhood Education training, parent training, community-based curriculum development, and elder involvement have also resulted from the Initiative. Although this initiative has started to address the child care needs of First Nations and Inuit children and families, the goal of meeting 28 per cent of their child care needs will not be realized. In part, this is due to the use of dated population statistics (now seven years old) and the rapid growth of Aboriginal communities. However, the fact remains that Aboriginal children and families still do not have equal access to child care services that the rest of Canadian society enjoys.

Aboriginal Head Start Initiative

To foster the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical growth of each child.
To foster a desire in the child for lifelong learning.
To support parents and guardians as the prime teachers and caregivers of their children, making sure parents/caregivers play a key role in the planning, development, operation and evaluation of the program.
To recognize and support extended families in teaching and caring for children.
To make sure that the initiative works with and is supported by other community programs and services.
To ensure the human and financial resources are used in the best way possible to produce positive outcomes and experiences for Aboriginal children, parents, families and communities.

The Aboriginal Head Start Initiative was introduced by the federal government in January 1994. Following cabinet approval in June 1994, Health Canada consulted with Aboriginal organizations, provincial and territorial governments, parents and educators on the design and implementation of the Aboriginal Head Start Initiative. In December 1994, Cabinet approved the design and implementation plans and in April 1995, terms and conditions and funding levels were approved. In the initial four-year pilot phase, $83.7 million was allocated for the development of 50 Head Start projects across the country.

On May 29, 1995, Health Minister Diane Marleau announced the launch of the Aboriginal Head Start Initiative in Vancouver. The Minister indicated that the Initiative fulfills the government’s commitment, found in the Red Book, to develop an early intervention program for Indian, Metis and Inuit children and families living in urban centres and large northern communities. She went on to say that, “the ultimate goal of the initiative is to help parents and children build a better future for themselves by themselves.”

Aboriginal Head Start is an early intervention initiative designed to meet the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical needs of young children between the ages of 0 and 6 years.

Aboriginal Head Start projects are characterized by strong parental involvement, promotion of Aboriginal cultures and languages, fostering of positive early childhood development and local administration. Each program is required to have the following specific components: culture and language, education, health promotion, nutrition, social support programs and parental involvement. To date, there are approximately 47 Aboriginal Head Start child care projects located in each province and territory in Canada.

In addition to the development of services for Aboriginal children living, for the most part, off- reserve, the initiative has acted as a catalyst for the development of environmental scans focusing on the needs of and availability of Aboriginal child care services in each province and territory. To support the implementation of projects in the various locations, the Aboriginal Head Start Initiative, Literature Review (1996) and the Aboriginal Head Start Initiative, Resource Guide (1997) were developed. The literature review discusses early childhood development, early childhood education/interventions and resilience. It also contains a substantial annotated bibliography.

The annotated resource guide contains information on traditional learning and teaching, parent support resources and education programs, child development, special needs, play and games, literacy and language, Aboriginal children’s books, and curriculum and reference materials.

Another critical support to the success of the Aboriginal Head Start Initiative is the implementation of a training program for project caregivers. The High Scope model of early childhood training was being implemented in 1997/98. The aim of this US-based training was to train the trainer so that caregivers from Canadian Aboriginal Head Start projects could, in turn, train others.

Although the Aboriginal Head Start Initiative has brought about the creation of new child care spaces and support services, Aboriginal children still do not enjoy the same access to relevant care as their counterparts in the larger Canadian society. The need for culturally based Aboriginal child care services remains to almost the same degree.

The national Aboriginal child care initiatives described in the previous pages represent a new beginning. Despite the fact that there remains an inadequate number of services, the initiatives have not only created spaces where there were none, but also have served as a catalyst for Aboriginal communities to articulate their child care needs and how best to meet those needs. Support services have evolved congruent with the holistic manner with which Aboriginal people view child care. The following section identifies and discusses some of the many challenges in defining and implementing Aboriginal child care services.

Challenges to the Implementation of Aboriginal Child Care Services
The need for quality Aboriginal child care services is great. Implementing those services presents a whole other set of challenges, not the least of which is defining Aboriginal child care and putting that definition into practice, and the role of federal and provincial legislation and policy in service delivery.

The Native Council of Canada’s report, The Circle of Care (1990), is the first national enquiry into defining Native child care and the meaning of cultural appropriateness with respect to the delivery of child care services. Although this study was conducted for off-reserve status and non-status First Nations people, the values, beliefs and assumptions underlying these fundamental questions are similar for First Nations peoples regardless of their locale. As noted earlier, The Circle of Care states that there is a direct link between culturally relevant child care services and the preservation of First Nations culture. Child care services are regarded as the vehicle through which the transmission of culture can take place from one generation to the next. It is critical, then, for First Nations people to articulate what they believe those child care services should be and how they are to be implemented.

The more recent Assembly of First Nations Child Care in Canada (1995) contains a First Nations Framework on Child Care as developed by the Rights Committee on Child, Family and Health Care (1988). This framework describes a First Nations child care system of high quality, culturally appropriate and First-Nations-controlled services. Child care concerns form two of the sections contained in the framework. Specific statements within these sections include the following:

Child Care as a Cultural Issue
First Nations child care must be addressed culturally and holistically. Child care must encompass First Nations values and traditions…child care programs [must] be placed within the culture of the First Nations communities.

First Nations’ Vision of Child Care

The care of First Nations children is first and foremost a parental responsibility.
Parents must be involved along with First Nations governments in decisions concerning the operation and delivery of child care services.
First Nations require a child care system which reflects the unique needs of First Nations society and will provide a comprehensive range of quality, accountable, community-based, non-profit child care services for families requiring care.
Services that are provided in First Nations communities must be culturally sensitive, non-profit, comprehensive, accessible, of high qualify, affordable and administered by appropriate First Nations caregivers whenever possible.
To ensure quality, it is essential that certain standards be met by the caregiver. Standards relating to child ratios, and health and safety requirements need to be met... Determining those standards and questions on how to monitor services should be decided by the parents using the service and the First Nations governments.
Quality child care to First Nations has a special meaning. Involvement of elders with respect to Aboriginal languages and traditional values is an essential component in achieving quality care. There is a need to protect and redevelop the traditional aspect of child care particularly due to the “Mission School Syndrome.”
First Nations government jurisdiction, power and responsibilities must be recognized...
Children are the most precious resource of the First Nations. Because child care services are required at such a crucial time in a child’s development, First Nations have the right to expect that the child care system will build upon the positive identity of our children.
First Nations have an inherent right to develop and control their own child care systems. First Nations should develop national minimum standards for First Nations child care guidelines. Those guidelines must reflect First Nations values and traditions.

Through the Child Care Initiatives Fund, First Nations communities sought to establish child care services that were sensitive to the community and its needs. Many of the recommendations made by the Rights Committee on the Child, Family and Health Care were operationalized in these pilot projects. For example, elders played a key role in the transmission of cultural knowledge to the children and families who were accessing child care services for the Splats’in Day Care Centre (1993), and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council-Indian Child Care Program (1994). In caregiver training programs, the transmission of culturally appropriate practices was addressed by Meadow Lake Tribal Council-Indian Child Care Program (1994); Anishinabek Early Childhood Education Program (1994); Wagmatcook Sweetgrass Child Care Program (1994); and by the Micmac Child Care Council’s Clans for the Next Generation (1992).

Although these projects sought to define, develop and deliver First-Nations-specific child care services, all were plagued by legislation and policies that did not support the uniqueness of those services. The lack of supportive legislation and policy, or legislation and policy designed and implemented by First Nations communities, is not surprising when First Nations have not typically been included in the development of legislation and policies that directly affect their lives.

While there is a tremendous lack of research focusing on Aboriginal child care, a few of the studies that do exist substantiate the need for First-Nations-specific legislation and policies. For example, Mock and Massemann’s (1986) minority group research including Aboriginal people identifies a lack of sensitivity of the existing child care system to minority groups’ child care needs. They state:

… although cultural minority groups experience the same major problems as all other groups with respect to child care arrangements, (namely lack of availability of and accessibility to affordable, quality child care) to these problems are added … lack of understanding of the system, lack of sensitivity of the system to cultural differences, inflexible attitudes and schedules, [which are] compounded by unemployment, underemployment and lowered socio-economic status.

Herberg’s (July 1989) statement in his presentation at the National Symposium on the Family, also spoke to the need for legislation and policy that is sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal people:

… officials who set policy and legislation must expunge and never again permit law, policy and practice that contradict ethnic group cultural content. ... Native families have so often been the target of “corrective” or “ameliorative” policy and program recommendations. These have subtly but derogatively labelled Native family structure and practices as deficient, inferior and/or requiring official surveillance.

Clearly, as Aboriginal communities establish and deliver community-based child care services, the issues of defining and operationalizing Aboriginal child care and the corresponding need for legislation and policies supporting subsequent service delivery must be examined and articulated.

Conclusion
The context of ambiguity created by the federal government’s legal registration of Aboriginal people and resultant disparity between services among Aboriginal people remains unchanged. The newly created national Aboriginal child care initiatives reflect this ambiguity by virtue of the initiative mandates and target groups they are designed to serve. This context is reinforced by the federal/provincial jurisdictional differences that remain unresolved with respect to Canada’s first people.

However, the need for Aboriginal child care services remains critical for Aboriginal children and families. More than being a support to working or studying parents, these services serve as a vehicle for the transmission of the beliefs and values, traditions and history of a people, of a culture. In the words of Mary Thomas, “We cannot live in the past. History moves forward. We move, but we take with us the ways of our past. These are the beliefs and values of our people that our people lived by. Teach these things to our children.”

Aboriginal child care services that “reflect First Nations beliefs and values, [will] restore our children to their rightful place and, in doing so, restore our communities to a place of power and self sufficiency.”

Aboriginal child care services must be developed by Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people, and be controlled by Aboriginal people. “In doing so, we realize who we are.”

Margo Greenwood is a First Nations cultural education facilitator in British Columbia. Part I of this article was published in the summer issue of Interaction (Vol. 13, No. 2) page 17. The full list of references is included in that issue.