Canada

A First Nations baby who had difficulty breast-feeding was diagnosed with allergies that required special formula. The Canadian federal government would not cover the cost of the special formula, so the nutritionist begged the company for free samples. A non-aboriginal child in the same province would have received the formula through provincial health care. 

So the neighbourhood became a place of welcome, not an agency but a neighbourhood. We began to paraphrase the African saying, “It takes a neighbourhood to welcome a refugee."

Although it is sad to say, the truth is that Aboriginal education in Canada is stuck. It cannot move forward with much-needed reform. The issues needing reform are many--there are significant inequities between funding given to on-reserve Aboriginal schools and off-reserve schools. Less than half of First Nations people graduate high school, compared to almost 90% of non-Aboriginal people in Canada.

We knew the basics; we knew would be staying at the Indigenous Family Center (IFC) in the north end of Winnipeg, we knew we would be helping around the community, and we knew that we wanted to make a difference in the lives of those we served. What we certainly didn’t expect, was that they would also make a difference in our lives.