Nunavik’s health board asks for input on youth protection services
Agreement with Quebec would aim to better reflect Inuit culture
KRG vice-chair Hilda Snowball says that a working group of the Nunavik health board is visiting the region’s communities to gather input for an agreement with Quebec that would aim to integrate youth protection services with Inuit culture. (Photo by Elaine Anselmi)
A working group of the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services is travelling to each of the region’s communities to gather input for an agreement that aims to integrate youth protection services with Inuit culture.
Quebec’s Youth Protection Act, updated in 2016, allows the province to enter into agreements with Indigenous communities to design and deliver their own youth protection programs.
“We’re trying to integrate Inuit culture into the act,” Hilda Snowball, vice-chair of the Kativik Regional Government council, told Nunatsiaq News. “There have been a lot of complaints about children being removed from their family, their community, their region and culture.”
Youth protection has long been a sore spot in the region.
While youth protection makes efforts to place Nunavimmiut children placed in foster care with other Inuit families, a shortage means some children are sent to live with families in Montreal.
Snowball informed council that her working group, called Sukait, has already been to five communities and will continue to all others. The group is led by Mina Beaulne, the Nunavik health board’s advisor on integrated health and family services.
Beaulne presented the plan to adapt Nunavik’s youth protection services to meet the needs of the region’s communities at a KRG meeting last fall.
“We all want our children to be protected,” she said during her presentation on Nov. 28 last year. “But [the application of the law] isn’t really appropriate to our way of life.”
Other Indigenous groups in Quebec have taken control over youth protection services, including the Atikamekw, the First Nation in the upper Saint-Maurice River valley, north of Montreal.
“We want you to be aware of this for the communities that they haven’t gone to,” Snowball said. “They have informed the leaders of the communities, so I want this info to be given to the communities; They are doing a review of changes that the public might want to see.”
Snowball is a member of the working group, and said the community visits would be town hall-style, open to all members of the public.
“We are trying to work on making adjustments that would pertain more to the Inuit culture,” she said. “This is a big thing that we’re doing and it is going to affect the communities of Nunavik, because this will be worked on to pertain more to the culture.”
Work needs to be done to address the alcohol and drug abuse in Nunavik. No matter how much going from community to community we do, if it doesn’t address substance abuse, then things will continue to be bad for our children. Our Nunavik society is severely crippled from alcohol and drugs. Having our children taking away is a big issue with the saddest of all. But to help leaders understand the core problems, we need to emphasize the other impacts of abuses. Let’s think about the hospitalization of injured impair drivers. Let’s think about the 4 wheeler, and snowmobile accidents. Let’s remember those that have passed away from substance abuse. Those that have committed suicide due to the abuses. Let’s acknowledge the terrible impact of alcohol and drugs, and apply that concern to helping in this fostering mess we have at this time.
Finally you woke up from the problems that has been running in long years, thanks to who? that alcohol & drugs are long term existing way even before you were born?!
Long ago, women use to look after their precious children with the elders, elder adults together until some what southerners brought alcohol & drugs to North!
Try triangulating instead, this is old news of problems, we can always work together in own culture ways, trying to bring back our stolen children to proper family members, when Social services takes away the child(ren) they don’t even try to check other family member, they hurt so many Inuit!
Thanks to Social Services, Justice system, our stolen children have lost their mother tongue! you broke the law yourselves! letting to lose the mother tongue, how would you feel if Inuit were opposite? don’t speak French or English?!
As any reader can see, the insights into the problems are far from the senses. Alcohol and drugs were around a very long time. Inuit have been around a long time too. But when the two mix, it’s not a very good recipe for good quality of life, most of the times. It’s a big thanks to southerners who not only brought in the booze, but according to the above comment, southerners forced the Inuit to consume the stuff, and to go crazy. So crazy that little children are now being looked after by southerners as a result. I’m very concerned about that mentality of learn helplessness as by the thoughts of some Inuit. This kind of thinking only brings in a barrier to wellness, and growth. This blame game only hurts the children. It’s simple, some one cares for children, whether you do or not. At the end of the day, those that care, are with the children. If you loss your child, ask yourself why? Be honest too.
And thanks to Inuit, you have a job and feed yourself, making money out of Inuit!
Watch out how you replied, many parents grandparents are angry!