Families celebrate the grand opening of new Thunder Bay child and family centre

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY—A group of parents and children helped celebrate the July 4 grand opening of Dilico Anishinabek Family Care’s Abiinojiishiik-amino-yawook EarlyON Child and Family Centre in Thunder Bay.

“I have two young boys, one is five and one is eight months, and they both just love to come here,” says Tuesday Recollet, who has family from Wiikwemkoong but has lived in Thunder Bay for about 16 years. “The staff is very friendly and welcoming. They like to play here and I like to relax.”

Recollet also enjoys interacting with the other parents at Abiinojiishiik-amino-yawook, which is located on the lower level of McKellar Place near the corner of Ridgeway and McKellar Streets.

“It’s nice to realize that a lot of the issues we are going through, we are not going through alone,” Recollet says. “It can be very isolating living alone at home, so having safe spaces to gather is very important, especially for Indigenous people in Thunder Bay where we often do not feel welcomed.”

Recollet looks forward to seeing more people at Abiinojiishiik-amino-yawook, which is open five days a week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for parents and caregivers of infants and children up to six-years-old.

“And we really start a change and take back our parenting,” Recollet says. “I’m excited for my kids to grow up with all of these advantages.”

Rebecca Sugarhead, a parent of five children from Nibinamik, brought her two younger children to the grand opening ceremony at Abiinojiishiik-amino-yawook.

“It’s really nice, it’s really open and the kids really love the toys and they get to sit down and eat,” Sugarhead says. “We get to socialize — the workers interact with the kids so I get to have a little bit of me time and connect with the other parents and hear their story and share my story.”

Johnny Mamakeesick, a parent from Keewaywin, usually takes his children to a variety of drop in centres in Thunder Bay.

“My kids have a lot of fun coming to places like this,” Mamakeesick says. “It gives them a chance to play with other kids and learn new things.”

John Dixon, director of Mental Health and Addictions with Dilico, says it is “wonderful” to see the families interacting at Abiinojiishiik-amino-yawook.

“I’m glad that people are feeling safe to come in here and that there’s people getting that opportunity to network with other adults,” Dixon says. “That is a side benefit of this kind of program — we have a lot of people coming into this city from other areas east, west, north of here and it is a good opportunity for them too to do that, to kind of set some roots and make some circles of friends and supports. It’s great.”

The Abiinojiishiik-amino-yawook EarlyON Child and Family Centre was created through a partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Thunder Bay District Social Service Administration Board. It provides early learning and developmental supports, access to Elders and teachers, culturally-based play and learning programming, parenting skills, clinical interventions for both children and parents and support in accessing other community resources.

“Our people are just starting to embrace the teachings that we thought we had lost,” says Beatrice Twance-Hynes, cultural manager with Dilico and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg citizen. “So it’s good to start young and teach the children those teachings and to let them know that, hey, this is a good place.”