Walking with Humility plan embraces ongoing teachings, reflecting on past lessons, and fostering enduring partnerships

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — St. Joseph’s Care Group (SJCG) launched its Walking with Humility: Embracing the Teachings of the West on Sept. 27 at the Sister Margaret Smith Centre in Thunder Bay.

“The Walking with Humility, it’s been quite the journey to date,” says Paul Francis Jr., vice president, N’doo’owe Binesi at St. Joseph’s Care Group and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory citizen. “It’s rooted in ceremony and in spirit and it’s a cultural framework for us to make space in institutions that we haven’t been a part of. Most of us know about Residential Schools and the lasting impacts that had on our people, so these programs are needed in all institutions for us to repair that damage and move forward in a good way.”

Walking with Humility: Embracing the Teachings of the West prioritizes four key areas: advancing SJCG’s journey to provide culturally safe care for Indigenous peoples; advancing Truth and Reconciliation; amplifying Indigenous cultural safety in the region; and nurturing N’doo’owe Binesi – SJCG’s Indigenous Health division.

“The west is a really powerful direction for us in our Anishinaabe teachings,” Francis says. “It’s that doorway where we actually leave this physical Earth and transition … into that Spirit World, so it is a very powerful direction and it’s an opportunity for us to really look back where we’ve come to help us into the future. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us but we have a strong team, we have our Elder’s Council, we have a very committed core of allies.”

Francis adds that the west direction also signifies adulthood and the season of fall.

“By Embracing the Teachings of the West, and looking to Makwa, the Bear, for strength, introspection, and protection as we continue this work, we honour our journey of growth and transformation,” Francis says.

SJCG initially released its Walking with Humility: A Plan to Develop Relationships and Practices with Indigenous Peoples in 2018 and followed that with the release of Walking with Humility: Looking to the Southern Direction in 2022. Information about Walking with Humility, which is a core commitment in SJCG’s Strategic Plan 2024-2028, is posted on SJCG’s website.

“Our Walking with Humility journey has followed the four directions of the Medicine Wheel,” says Janine Black, president and CEO at SJCG. “Our path began in the east a number of years ago with a small but important commitment to learn what to change, we then headed on the southern path for four years and now have decided that we are turning to the west. The west means we are now mature or we are at least more mature than we were and we are now exploring things like colonialism and two-eyed seeing.”

Walking with Humility: Embracing the Teachings of the West focuses on embracing ongoing teachings, reflecting on past lessons, and fostering enduring partnerships.

“Our third Walking With Humility reflects on our progress, and I am moved to see how far we have come, the relationships that have been built and the dedication of staff to continuing our journey,” Black says. “This plan guides our next steps as we support Truth and Reconciliation, amplify teachings, and foster enduring partnerships to advance healthcare in a way that is respectful, equitable, culturally-safe, and inclusive of Indigenous peoples.”

Black says she can see that people within the organization are starting to internalize, reflect on and practise the lessons they have learned.

“And we are ready to continue on with this journey,” Black says. “I can see a change over the years with people’s motivation and desire to learn and I think that we are now in a place where people are really ready to grow.”