MFNERC hosted its First Nations Early Learning Child Care Engagement Forum this week. The conference was held to allow all 63 First Nations in Manitoba to voice the needs and aspirations for their children.Attendees were early learning educators, Head Start program facilitators, daycare workers, and health care providers.
“Children are our most valuable resource, and this is an opportunity to say what is important for them as a First Nations and for their children,” says Sheila Murdock, Early Learning Literacy Facilitator at MFNSS. “The information we collect from this meeting with the communities will be going towards the development of an Early Learning and Childcare Strategy for Manitoba that we will present to the Chiefs at the Chiefs Assembly.”
Fiona Loonfoot, from Garden Hill First Nation, working at Kitiganwacheeng Health Services, attended this conference because she works with kids often in her job. “Right now,” she says, “we’re going through the questionnaire and writing on the board what we have come up with collectively, addressing what we need in our communities, what else we can look at for opportunities, and also assessing the pros and cons about those potential solutions.”
First Nations Early Learning & Child Care Engagement Session 2019 from MFNERC on Vimeo.
Engagement forums like this are essential opportunities for First Nations to have their concerns and visions for their children addressed at the leadership level. MFNERC invited the 63 First Nations to be a part of this engagement session, so all the children have a voice at the table.
“It not only focuses on education and daycare, but it also includes a health care focus. The facilitators are asking us what is needed in our communities and for our children as a whole,” says Fiona Loonfoot. MFNERC is in the process of planning another forum for September 2019.
