Mnaasged Child and Family Services continues to support communities during COVID-19 pandemic
By Colin Graf
AAMJIWNAANG FIRST NATION— Members of First Nations across southwestern Ontario are hoping to get more access to services and goods for children thanks to new training on how to access Jordan’s Principle.
The training workshop, run by Stephanie Stone of Mnaasged Child and Family Services, brought workers in social services, education, and health together to learn how to help families and groups navigate their way through the federal government bureaucracy to make sure their applications for help are approved, Stone says.
Jordan’s Principle was created in response to the death of five-year-old Jordan River Anderson, a child from Norway House Cree Nation who suffered from a rare muscular disorder. After spending his first two years in a Winnipeg hospital, Jordan was cleared to live at home, but he died at age five, still in hospital after wrangling between the federal and provincial governments over which level of government should pay for his in-home care. The House of Commons passed a motion of support of the Principle in 2007 that is supposed to guarantee equitable and timely access to children’s services for First Nations and Inuit people.
The need to train navigators to help families became clear to Stone after returning to southern Ontario last summer from Sault College and realizing people in social services either did not know about Jordan’s Principle or thought it was only to help children with special needs. Applications to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) through Jordan’s Principle are also considered for children who have experienced trauma, and those without basic needs such as beds and clothing, she says.
More applications are now being submitted from the region for support with behavioural needs, mental health, and dietary needs, Stone says.
First Nations are now hiring Jordan’s Principle Navigators because many applications from southern Ontario have been denied or labelled incomplete by ISC, Stone says.
“You get an intake worker who is not very helpful [and] very stretched for time,” describes Stone when calling ISC. “They don’t take the time and patience we need to have with our First Nations people because our First Nations people are already frustrated with the government, especially when it comes to health and educational needs.”
The goal of the workshop is training navigators by helping them with their knowledge and skills in completing applications. Stone says it can be a serious setback if an application is labelled as incomplete, as those files usually end up “on the back burner for months.” The workshop should ensure First Nations in the area are all on the same page when submitting applications, she says. Participants came from Aamjiwnaang, Caldwell, Kettle & Stony Point First Nations, and the Oneida Thames settlement.
Participants worked through different scenarios with Stone, completing mock applications for individuals and groups together. The exercises gave them “insight on what potential problems could arise” in writing applications, she says.
Stone says the government is trying to create universal standards for care.
“But it doesn’t fit all our community needs.”
All communities are different, and every application needs to be given individual consideration.
Stone is getting more requests to do training and speak about Jordan’s Principle, but right now, her focus is on helping people with applications that are already in progress. She and her two navigators at Mnaasged are working from home during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. While they are not meeting face-to-face with clients, they are still providing services online or by phone. If clients can send her information or documents through the internet, she will contact them and let them know if they meet their criteria for Jordan’s Principle. Mnaasged serves six First Nations; Aamjiwnaang, Kettle & Stony Point, Munsee Delaware Nation, Moraviantown, Caldwell, and Oneida, including families living off-territory in locations such as the cities of London and Windsor.
Stone says her office is working with children in care to help keep families together, and with foster children, youth in transitional housing, justice, rehabilitation, and medical malpractice cases from birth to age 17. Many problems are the result of intergenerational trauma from the legacy of residential schooling, she says.