Recent changes in NSCSW’s by-laws & governance policy (page 12)
L’NUITA’SIMK
Thinking like an L’nu, in praxis (page 22)
A DECOLONIZED APPROACH TO CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK
Seeking Indigenous ways of knowing and being in Mi’kma’ki (page 24)
May 24-25, 2024
Our annual conferences create opportunities for members of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers and others in our communities to connect, plan, discover, and share knowledge. We hope to see you again next year.
Questions? Proposals? Suggestions?
Contact Naj Siritsky at nsiritsky@nscsw.org
Published three times a year by the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers
1888 Brunswick Street, Suite 700 Halifax, NS B3J 3J8
Phone: 902.429.7799
Fax: 902.429.7650
Web: nscsw.org
The NSCSW is in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq, whose inherent rights were recognized in the Peace and Friendship Treaties that were signed from 1725 to 1779. This series of treaties did not surrender Indigenous land, resources or sovereignty to the British Empire, but instead established rules for an ongoing relationship between nations. The treaties were later reaffirmed by Canada in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and remain active to this day. The NSCSW joins our members and our communities in the labour of reconciliation, and we are grateful to live and work together as treaty people in Mi’kma’ki.
Connection is © Copyright 2023 by the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, and also reserves copyright for all articles. Reproduction without written permission from the publisher is not allowed.
CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN:
Brittany Pickrem, Branding & Design
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE:
Rebecca Faria (College Staff)
Christine Merrigan (RSW)
Dermot Monaghan (RSW)
Amy Pinnell (PP)
Shane Pope (SWC)
Annette Samson (RSW)
N Siritsky (PP, College Staff)
Shataya Stevenson (Student)
Hannah Stewart (RSW)
Rachel Smith (RSW, Committee Chair)
Wilson Zvomuya (Associate)
OUR THANKS:
The NSCSW Editorial Committee is grateful to Michelle Peters and the Decolonization Committee for their support and guidance during the creation of this issue.
COVER PHOTO: Michelle Peters, photograph by Matt Peters
CONNECT WITH THE COLLEGE:
facebook.com/NSCSW
@NSCSW
I write this to you from Mi’kma’ki, which continues to be the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq, as it has been for thousands of years. The Nova Scotia College of Social Workers will continue to partner with our members and our communities in the necessary labour of reconciliation, striving to always abide by the spirit of the Peace and Friendship Treaties.
We must recognize that the profession of social work has been complicit in harm and has contributed to the genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada. We therefore have an urgent and abiding need for social work – and social workers – to participate in reconciliation, decolonization and Indigenization efforts. As an organization that dedicates itself to protection of the public, and aims to preserve and promote our profession, our College must be part of this work, starting by listening to Indigenous people and communities and following where they lead us; I hope we become an example that can lead others in turn.
There are many demands for the time and wisdom of Indigenous professionals, and it can be a challenge to sustainably respond to requests from settler organizations seeking reconciliation while they also focus on serving the strengths and needs of their communities (and without losing sight of their own needs and self-care). I am grateful to all the contributors who generously shared their perspectives and experiences with us, either by writing or consenting to be interviewed.
This issue has a spotlight on last year’s student bursary winners and their hopes for the future (page 10).
Turn to page 12 to read about accreditation of Indigenous social work programs, and to page 14 to dive into the definition of decolonization as it applies to our profession.
The voices of several Indigenous practitioners informed the land acknowledgment article on page 17.
Alec Stratford, MSW, RSW Registrar/Executive Director
On page 20, learn about the new Indigenous health authority that is in the early stages of transforming health care for Mi’kmaw people and communities.
Our feature piece is a two-parter, starting on page 22 with a profile of the first Mi’kmaw social worker to receive private practitioner authorization from our Board of Examiners –hopefully the first of many more to come. And finally, flip to page 24 to read that same social worker’s own words about the Indigenization of clinical social work.
Candidacy mentors are an important link in the model for professional development within the membership of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. We would like to thank these mentors who have guided Social Worker Candidates through the successful completion of candidacy since May 2023.
Ashley d’Entremont
Kimberly Gariepy
Melissa Hum
Jack Landreville
Krista Lauff
Amy LeBlanc
Maria MacDonald
Mike MacInnis
Susan Mercer
Kayla O’Hearn
Lydia Stevens
Jennifer van Kessel
Mentorship is underscored by a climate of safety and trust, where candidates can develop their sense of professional identity.
We offer optional mentor training for members of the College, in the form of a self-directed online course. We also provide resources to help mentors support candidates’ learning throughout their candidacy.
To learn more about the rewards of being a mentor, visit candidacy.nscsw.org/mentors
Approved by the NSCSW Board of Examiners May – June 2023
Mackenzie Ells
Maria Hernandez
Christina MacInnis
Archie MacKinnon
Carol Ann MacPhee
Donna-Lee McLellan
Debra Philpitt
Katherine Ryan
Samantha Sarty
Sarah Silver Slayter
Jason Tucker
Christina Vandenberg
Jerica Benoit
Alvin Bhengu
Danielle Bonnar
Julia Breneol
Julie Brown
Mari Burns
Michael Butler
Cassandra Cole
Elise Comeau
Eileen Coole
Kelley Curley
Casey Dame
Catherine Flindall
Emily Gavin
Juliana Gomes Pontes
Selina Haltom
Margaret Hertzberg
Donna-Lee McLellan
Chelcie Myers
Alexandra Nelson
Kaitlin O’Brien
Annie Perry
Arthur Sullivan
Jaimin Tevar
Hannah Tousignant
Amanda Workman
Kathryn Annett
Megan Arsenault
Kyle Bell
Ellen Bent
Keeshia Bernard
Heather Blake
Catherine Campbell
Deanna Capstick
Laura Chalmers
Hannah Clarke
Leslie Coleman
Kristina Davis
Samantha Denny
Jayden Doucette
Rebecca Doucette
Melissa Eakin
Atifa Fazal
Abigail Ferris
Jonna Francis
Jacqueline Gillies
Shelby Graham
Julie Higdon
Holly Hillhouse
Jomy Joseph
Cynthia Kabongo
Bilal Kazi
Jannine Koert
Mariam Koruth Soniya
Leurette Labobe
Breagh MacDermid
Stephanie Macfarlane
Rachel MacPhee
Erin Mahoney
Héroux Rhymes Mali
Kyra Martin
Marianne McTague
Nicole Melanson
Kelsie Mosher
Sarah Mosher
Robert Neill
Alexandria Rhodes
Renise Robichaud
Emily Rossong
Taylor Saulnier
Michaela Singer
Angel Sperry
Bria Symonds
Jerrin Thomas
Cailey Watkins
These student members each received $500 to help them achieve their academic and professional goals while completing accredited social work programs at Canadian universities. For those who are continuing their studies, we wish them well in their academic pursuits. And for those who received the award in the last year of their program and have just graduated, we are delighted to welcome them as they take the next steps in their professional journeys.
In 2019 I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Greece to work in a dental clinic in Ritsona refugee camp. While in Greece, I realized my love for providing support, resources and advocacy for people. Since then, I have been inspired to pursue an education and a career in social work.
Since starting my journey at Dalhousie’s School of Social Work, I have learned so much about what it means to practice social work. I hope to take everything I have learned and apply it to my practice. I plan to someday gain my MSW and work within the healthcare system, where I can combine my knowledge from my social work education and my previous medical sciences degree. I am honoured to be accepted for this award and look forward to what my future career and academic endeavours have in store for me.
I am currently living in Kjipuktuk, where I am enrolled in the two-year Master of Social Work program at the Dalhousie University School of Social Work. I have completed all of my coursework and practicums, and am now focused on my thesis project entitled Social Work for Land Back: Environmental Social Work, Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Indigenous SelfDetermination. I have experience and interest in social work areas such as addictions, mental health, gender, sexuality, climate action, education, decolonization, settler responsibility, and spirituality, among others. I am curious to see where my career takes me next and I am very appreciative of support from the NSCSW. I feel empowered to further deepen my commitment to this journey as a social service provider/advocate/change maker/lifelong learner!
My earliest memories consist of me asking my parents why? “Why are there people living on the street?” or “why are people on TV angry because same-sex couples love each other?” More than 20 years later, I am not satisfied with the answers that I have been given or the systems that have upheld marginalization in society. My questions have now shifted to how? “How do we progress toward social justice?” and “how do I help?” These are questions that led me to social work, and that I ask myself daily in practice.
I graduated from Saint Mary’s University with my BA (hons.) in 2016 and, since graduating with my BSW from Dalhousie University in 2019, I have worked various roles within the Department of Community Services. In September 2022 I started working towards my MSW. My areas of interest include: reproductive mental health, addiction, epistemic injustice, family violence, LGBTQIA* issues, medical trauma, and moral injury amongst social workers. I am keen to see where my social work career takes me in the future and what answers I might find along the way!
My passion to pursue a social work career began after graduating from my BSc (Psychology) in 2014 from Mount Saint Vincent University. From here, I began working for the Department of Community Services (DCS) in 2015 as a support worker for a small-options home company. I began noticing parallels between my role and the DCS Disability Supports Program (DSP) social work role, which both involve resident-community engagement and promoting resident well-being.
These parallel work-related experiences inspired me to pursue an MSW to expand my scope of practice. While completing my MSW degree, I continued in my support worker role within the same small-options home company because I believe in creating lasting and meaningful professional connections. My prior work experience and my career pathway as an MSW will be beneficial to working within the DSP or within another related field of social work.
I received this award during my last year of the BSW program at Dalhousie University. I have chosen social work, or perhaps social work has chosen me, because of my lived experiences. I grew up in North-End Dartmouth and was raised by a single mother who received income assistance. Growing up poor, I witnessed my mother carry the weight of poverty and the associated shame and stigma that goes along with it. But I also witnessed my mother’s resilience and her ability to acknowledge the humanity in others, despite the way she had been treated.
My approach to social work is heavily influenced by who my mother was. To me, social work is fundamentally about protecting human rights and advocating for social justice. And I plan to use the skills and knowledge that I gained through the social work program to work at a structural level to address the root causes of social problems.
In a significant move towards inclusivity and respect for Indigenous knowledge, the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers has recently updated its by-laws and governance policy. This change specifically includes the addition of the National Indigenous Accreditation Board (NIAB) as an equivalent assessor of academic programs, aligning with the standards set by the Canadian Association of Social Work Educators (CASWE).
This shift offers a broader perspective on social work education, acknowledging and validating the rich tapestry of Indigenous knowledge frameworks. It serves as a critical step in promoting diversity and ensuring that social workers in Nova Scotia are reflective of the communities they serve.
The NIAB, established in 2009, has its roots in an earlier movement of Indigenous educators envisioning a system of reviewing and validating education programs using Indigenous knowledge systems. Entrusted with the task of institutional accreditation, NIAB has also developed a process for accrediting specific education programs. The board is served by a group of directors elected or appointed by membership from five geographical regions, ensuring a diverse representation of Indigenous nations and cultural contexts.
A significant milestone in this journey was the signing of an agreement between representatives from CASWE-ACFTS and NIAB. This agreement recognizes their accredited
social work degrees as substantially equivalent, a clear indication of mutual respect and shared responsibility towards reconciliation.
The collaboration aims to expand the education landscape to include Indigenous knowledges, contribute to healthy communities, and reclaim Indigenous languages and ways of being. It’s a collective effort to foster harmonious relationships, and to encourage relational practices rooted in Indigenous traditions.
This change in NSCSW’s by-laws and governance policy is not just a procedural adjustment; it’s a powerful statement about the importance of integrating Indigenous wisdom into mainstream education. By recognizing NIAB as an equivalent assessor of academic programs, NSCSW aims to create a more inclusive, diverse, and respectful social work landscape.
Within Indigenous peoples’ context, social work is highly problematic. Especially so given the notable absence of our profession in advocating for Indigenous collective rights and against human rights violations, and for our significant role in the abduction of generations of Indigenous children from their families, communities, and cultures.
Most recently the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) on Indigenous residential schools in Canada, specifically in the Calls to Action, challenged social workers to become educated on the effects of colonization and to recognize and respect Indigenous ways of helping and healing. Furthermore, Cindy Blackstock, an Indigenous social worker and child welfare advocate who successfully
championed a human rights complaint against the federal government claiming discrimination against First Nations children, highly criticized the profession for ignoring the plight of First Nations children for decades.
Social work is grounded in Euro-western colonialism. It therefore the responsibility of our profession and of each individual social worker to engage in the process of repairing our relationship with Indigenous peoples.
This work must begin with focused efforts to decolonize institutionally, professionally, and personally. Failure to do so means that we will be complicit in the perpetuation of harms, including an inequitable socio-economic status; as social workers this would be ethically unconscionable.
What does decolonization mean? First, it is important to be clear on the concept of colonization. Colonization, in the context of Turtle Island (North America), is fundamentally about the takeover of Indigenous land by European nations. Settler colonialism is a theory and term that denotes that settlers take over land from Indigenous peoples and then establish independent states from the original colonial power. This means that Canada continues to be a colonial state.
But colonization doesn’t begin or end with the acquisition of land and natural resources. It also means control over Indigenous lives through the imposition of political, social, economic, and cultural colonial institutions. Perhaps even more disconcerting is the infiltration of Indigenous minds and spirits with colonial ways of knowing, being and doing.
It is important to recognize that social welfare institutions such as child welfare, health care, and correctional services are colonial, as are professions such as social work. Social work education and professional development training has been and continues to be a primary tool perpetuating
dominant Western colonial values, beliefs, perspectives, and practices through the imposition of predominantly Western science, theories, practices, and ethics. Dominant social work knowledge is fundamentally grounded in rational-empirical Enlightenment thought and Judeo-Christian ideology which is widely perceived to be the only and “right” way to practice social work despite often being (at the very least) culturally and contextually irrelevant and (even more seriously) harmful to Indigenous peoples.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007), to which Canada is a signatory (2015), affirms the collective rights of Indigenous peoples to be both politically, socially, economically, and culturally self-determining and to live as Indigenous peoples within the host state. First and foremost, this means Indigenous peoples as collectives are autonomous and must be supported as such. In terms of social work, this will mean, for instance, that many Indigenous nations will assume jurisdiction over their own child welfare services. It could eventually mean that Indigenous social workers may choose to regulate their own social work practice. Despite renewed Indigenous autonomy, the mainstream will continue to co-exist with Indigenous social welfare institutions. Indigenous peoples will also continue to belong and interact within mainstream society and, therefore, with the social work profession.
Decolonization is necessary in order to make room for Indigeneity within (as well as alongside)
Western-based institutions and professions.
Reconciliation is critical to the decolonization process. It denotes relationship or mutuality along with an obligation on the part of the party who has created harm to acknowledge and redress that harm. Clearly, two forms of relating are no longer options: (1) no relationship or segregation, or (2) assimilation which entails expectations that Indigenous peoples conform to mainstream Western society. Instead, we must find a third, ethical means of relating that, first and foremost, respects the collective rights of Indigenous nations to be self-determining and to walk their own path in their own way, without interference. It also meets mainstream society’s obligations to create meaningful, and action-oriented relations that dismantle colonial institutions, policies, programs, practices, ideologies, and perspectives while welcoming and respecting Indigeneity.
But how does a social worker engage in decolonizing praxis (thought and action)? This is a challenging question. Perhaps if we knew the answer we would solve many of the world’s problems. However, what we do know is that ‘relationship’ is key to the process and that is something we should know something about as social workers. Indeed, potentially we could take a leadership role in reconciliation efforts. Some things a social worker can do towards decolonizing the profession and their praxis:
• Seek opportunities to inform and educate oneself about colonization and Indigeneity from local Indigenous perspectives without burdening Indigenous peoples
• Develop meaningful ongoing relationships with Indigenous peoples, communities, and organizations
• Critically reflect on one’s worldview (assumptions, values, and beliefs) and what influences it, while mindfully and intentionally making decisions that resist and dismantle the Western mind-frames that dominate one’s thinking and guide one’s actions
• Strive for interactions and actions that will be judged by Indigenous peers, communities, and peoples as having been done in a culturally relevant, good way
• Strive to ensure that one’s praxis (theories and practices) in both process and outcome is helpful and useful to Indigenous clients, peers, communities, and Indigenous peoples generally
• Strive to ensure one’s praxis affirms Indigenous cultures and rights including land sovereignty
• Strive to ensure that those involved or implicated share a sense of having learned, gained new understandings (perspectives, consciousness), and developed stronger positive relationships with Indigenous peoples
• Strive to ensure that one does not create harm to Indigenous peoples (for example, the appropriation of Indigenous traditional knowledges)
• Strive to align one’s praxis with Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing without appropriating Indigeneity when working with Indigenous peoples, communities, and organizations
• Make space for Indigenous paradigms (ways of knowing, being and doing) within Western contexts including, when necessary, getting out of the way of Indigenous peoples doing this work
Working in the context of decolonizing relationships, structures, perspectives, and practices is difficult, but is also necessary and rewarding work. It is a contemporary social work obligation and role. Being a bystander is not an option. Social workers have the capacity to embrace this challenge; after all, we are no strangers to complexity and uncertainty in practice.
GAIL BAIKIE is a social work educator and scholar of Indigenous (Inuit) and settler decent. She has over fifteen years of practice experience supporting health and healing in Indigenous communities in the North and Atlantic regions. Since 2003, Gail has worked as an assistant professor at the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University. Her interest in social work praxis in the borderlands in-between Indigenous and Western worlds and worldviews has led to scholarship in the areas of Indigenous and decolonizing methodologies in research, education, and professional practice. She has pioneered the development of decolonizing critical reflection, a tool and theory for decolonizing the mind.
BY NAJ SIRITSKY, RSW
When I first arrived in Mi’kma’ki, after years of living in Shawnee, Cherokee, Osage, Seneca-Iroquois, Miami, Hopewell and Adena land (now also called Kentucky), I was deeply struck by the practice of land acknowledgments which is almost nonexistent in most parts of what is now called the United States of America. Not long after, I began learning of the New Brunswick government’s decision to prevent its employees from making land acknowledgments that reference the unceded territory upon which they are located.
There is tremendous power – and deep legal implications – in this practice.
For the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, the long and necessary process of continuing to refine our land
acknowledgment praxis has provided us with opportunities to learn and grow in our organizational and professional commitment to working toward reconciliation. With each conversation and each iteration, we reaffirm our acknowledgment that this is Mi’kmaw land, and the land is crucial to Indigenous identity. The land holds histories, stories, songs, ceremonies, food, and medicine. Including recognition that the land is unceded and that its original nation is unconquered also acknowledges the genocidal history and broken relationships between Indigenous peoples and Canada.
In preparing for this issue of Connection, our final issue before we transition to a virtual magazine that will help us be better stewards of the earth’s precious natural resources, we met with several social workers to reflect upon the things that every social worker ought to consider when preparing to make a land acknowledgment.
We are grateful to the following social workers who met with us to help prepare this article: Craig Besaw, RSW, Dominic Boyd, RSW, Crystal Hill, RSW. We asked them: if you had to give guidance to a new social work student of settler descent who was just beginning to learn how to give land acknowledgments, what would you want them to understand?
We share some of their insights in appreciation for their wisdom and guidance:
“For land acknowledgements, there has to be a substance to the words, not just the hollow echo of the words. There has to be a commitment to action and change. We need to change the way we view the land, and our relationship to it”. Sometimes, too much gets put into a land acknowledgment and the land itself gets lost. Sometimes, people turn it into a political statement, or it becomes divisive, or it becomes a long list of the consequences of colonization.
Unfortunately, people begin to “add things to a land acknowledgement, which are not land acknowledgements” which makes it feel like the land is “not enough,” unto itself, to acknowledge. In that situation, where we begin to acknowledge other issues or dynamics, it can feel like “the land’s importance is being erased all over again.”
Often people seem uncomfortable in making the land acknowledgment or it seems like someone is “reading from a script” or it seems “performative” rather than genuine. “If it’s done right, it feels healing. If it’s pronounced wrong, it doesn’t. But if it’s done right, you can tell if it’s done with a level of compassion or if it’s just blurted out quickly and moved on.”
“Indigenous people don’t do land acknowledgements because we know where we are, we know our land. Having the land acknowledgement done by a non-Indigenous person is part of the work of reconciliation.”
“Part of the acknowledgment has to be an invitation for reflection on one’s relationship with the land. The statement has to be an invitation and can also be a “time for ‘breath work’ because that is part of the necessary work of decolonization. We live in a society where many people are uncomfortable with silence.” We need to learn to make the acknowledgement into something that can “impact our behaviors and have some visceral meaning to us internally.”
The land acknowledgment “should not traumatize people listening to it”, but rather bring people back to the solid foundation of the earth upon which we are located, as our shared starting point. It should move us to a place of gratitude for “the shared resources of this land covered by the treaties of Peace and Friendship” and inspire in us a commitment to protect it.
Acknowledging the land and reflecting upon one’s personal relationship to it, as well as committing to learning more about it are important ways to show respect and engage in the necessary work of reconciliation. As social workers, we have a unique responsibility to understand what was done and do what we can to work toward decolonization due to the ways that we participated in, and indeed, continue to participate in policies whose goal is to dispossess Indigenous peoples from their land.
Learning more about how to do a land acknowledgment is only the first step: it must translate into a larger awareness.
For example, our government’s systemic effort to erase the Mi’kmaw language was another strategy of dispossession and cultural genocide. But we can begin to learn how to pronounce the names of the Mi’kmaw lands where we are located, and learn to switch our linguistic habits. Instead of saying Halifax or Cape Breton when we are speaking, we can choose to say Kjipuktuk or Unama’ki. Such decisions are everyday ways that we can begin to transform the moment of the land acknowledgment into behaviors that we integrate into our daily lives, and hopefully educate more people about this beautiful land upon which we all live and work.
SIRITSKY is the professional practice & advocacy consultant at the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
We all have tremendous power in the words that we choose to use or not use.NAJ
Since 2012, community Heath Directors and Chiefs of the 13 First Nations in Nova Scotia have been setting the groundwork for creating a Mi’kmaw health and wellness organization.
Their collective vision for community-designed and community-led health and wellness officially launched in January 2022, when the federal government announced support and funding for Tajikeimik to lead health transformation for Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia.
Health transformation is the process of the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia taking control of the design and delivery of their health and wellness services. The vision of the organization is a healthy, vibrant Mi’kmaw Nation. That will be achieved through greater Mi’kmaw control over resources and decision-making, and by redefining programs and services with wholistic and two-eyed seeing approaches. Through health transformation, Tajikeimik will work with the provincial health system to transform the way they deliver services, resulting in broad changes to improve health outcomes for Mi’kmaw individuals and communities.
Mi’kmaq experience higher rates of premature and avoidable deaths, higher prevalence of mental illness and completed suicides, and higher incidence of chronic disease.The current health and wellness system is not working, and a different approach is needed.
By working together differently and strengthening coordination with health partners, Tajikeimik aims to ensure high-quality, culturally safe, wholistic health and wellness programs and services that improve health outcomes. The work of Tajikeimik is guided by the 13 Chiefs, Health Directors, and the Mi’kmaw Grand Council; and is supported by federal and provincial health partners.
A trilateral memorandum of understanding that outlined the shared purpose and goals of the Government of Canada, the Government of Nova Scotia, and the 13 Chiefs was signed in April 2023. The health transformation process is complex and is expected to take several years to complete. Tajikeimik is in year two of that process.
But the organization is not waiting for the transfer to complete before beginning the work of transforming health and wellness services and programs. Tajikeimik has been working to strengthen relationships that currently exist between communities and health partners, and building on and formalizing those partnerships to advance health priorities for communities. This includes strengthening
Health data clearly shows poorer health conditions and outcomes for Mi’kmaq compared to non-Indigenous Nova Scotians.
capacity for health surveillance, taking action to address anti-Indigenous racism in the health system, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and improving services in the areas of mental wellness, early years, Indigenous midwifery, and care transitions.
Engagement with communities is also well underway. In November 2022, the organization hosted the Tajikeimik Mawio’mi: Health and Wellness Gathering in Kjipuktuk. There were approximately 250 attendees from across the 13 communities, including members of Grand Council, Chiefs and Councils, Health Directors, community health champions, and representatives from partner Mi’kmaw organizations.
Perhaps the highlight of the day and a half gathering was the opportunity for all participants to share their vision for health and wellness through talking circles.
Themes from the talking circles included strong support for flexibility in how services are delivered, wholistic and cultural approaches embedded in health and wellness, and continued community consultation and engagement.
Tajikeimik continues to collaborate with leadership and health directors, and began engagement sessions in each community in spring 2023. Together, we will create a selfdetermined health organization, and shape the future of Mi’kmaw health and wellness in Nova Scotia.
CAROLYN PIERCE is the director of communications and engagement at Tajikeimik.
To stay up to date on Tajikeimik activities, follow Tajikeimik on Facebook (@Tajikeimik), Twitter (@Tajikeimik), LinkedIn (company/Tajikeimik) and Instagram (@Tajikeimik_NS), and visit the website at mhwns.ca.
Elukuti’kw wjit Naji-Wlo’ltinenew
We are working toward better health for all in our communities.
Reached at her home in Pictou Landing First Nation, in the company of her energetic puppy as the rain fell on her medicine garden on a gloomy winter morning, Michelle Peters had a lot to say. Drawing on the wisdom and power of the past and energized by the promise of the future, she’s ready to continue breaking barriers.
Michelle is the first M’ikmaq social worker to be registered with the Nova Scotia College of Soctia Workers in private practice.
Asked about her groundbreaking achievement, she answers with her signature humility, “I was proud of myself. I didn’t feel any reason to boast about it, but I was certainly feeling great breaking glass ceilings. But the more that I reflected on it, I thought, ‘Why am I in 2022 the first Mi’kmaw woman to be registered in private practice. What is going on, where is the gap?’ I think it was an epiphany moment for a lot of people. This is great, but we’re missing something here. We have lots of social workers, so why are there not more Mi’kmaw people in clinical practice at this level? I don’t have all the answers to that, that’s a question we’re trying to address.”
To Peters, it’s not about her, but rather about who comes up next. She’s encouraged by the number of Indigenous students
she sees entering the social work sphere. “All the narratives that have been said about us as Indigenous people from the colonial perspective has really impacted us in a very large way. The social workers that are coming up today have a chance to tell a different story. A story from our perspective.”
Asked why the decision to open her own practice was so important, Peters answers bluntly. “Working with the community, sometimes there’s a lot of work that has to happen. You wouldn’t consider them clinical hours; you have to integrate into the community. You need to attend events, you need to be a part of the community, you need to be visible. You need to show up when there’s a death or a crisis, but you also have to be there during the good times. There’s so much more required of you, that if you were working for another organization they wouldn’t necessarily see that as a part of your job description.”
Growing up off-reserve in Truro, Peters’ earliest role model was her mother, Mary, an educator and councillor who instilled the importance of education from an early age. “My mom has always emphasized the importance of education as an Indian Residential School Survivor. She championed that education is a significant way to create a positive change in our communities.”
Peters’ early years of learning didn’t hint at what was to come. At the age of 16, she became a teen mom and faced significant barriers related to poverty and racism. After struggling for a time, Peters attained her GED and this opened the door to her educational journey to begin.
Feeling out of place in the western education system — “It’s not our history,” she says, “it’s not our teachings, our culture or even our languages that are being taught. Institutions, even education institutions, become a way of forcing colonialism onto our people. It’s trauma being perpetuated. It’s not our reality being reflected in the curriculum.” — Michelle sought out mentors and role models in her own community, through the women who were her managers, supervisors, and held leadership roles in the community. “To me that meant a lot. It was women supporting women, lifting up other women,” she says, smiling.
Now the matriarch of a large, blended family, Peters speaks wistfully of the early days of her post-secondary education, balancing her roles as a mother and student. “You can’t hang around campus, you have to go home and take care of your kids.” She worked hard at her bachelor of business degree from STFX, graduating in 2010 after nine years of studying. That same year, her social work journey began in earnest at Dalhousie with an intense 24-month program.
In the nine years that followed, Peters worked as a counselor at shelters, in residential youth facilities, women’s programs and other institutions across the non-profit, federal, and provincial sectors.
Eventually landing at NSCC Truro and Pictou as the Indigenous student advisor, Peters found herself being the type of role model she’d wished she had. “I think what really kept me going was the kids, I really wanted to break that fear factor of being unsure about the future. I wanted to create a home that was safe for them and provide them with a different story about who we are now. The kids growing up now are the first generation in colonial history that are able to celebrate their culture and ceremonies and all of the things we identify as L’nu; we’re not ashamed of it anymore. I really wanted them to experience that about themselves, I didn’t want them to grow up thinking that being an L’nu was something to be ashamed of. I wanted them to be proud of who they were.” As she tells me that one of the students she advised is now herself in an advisory role, Peters beams with pride.
To Peters, the work of decolonizing is a matter of “walking the walk,” as she puts it. It “requires the practitioner to deconstruct the western frameworks of practice. It requires us to reconnect with the L’nu ways of knowing and being.” How does that look in practice? Attending ceremonies, learning from Elders and Knoweldge keepers and being present in the community. “I’ve grown a lot, not only as a clinician but as a Mi’kmaq woman, by being willing to attend ceremony and talk to Elders and just have tea and chat,” she says.
Peters’ practice is centered in L’nuita’simk, the Mi’kmaw ways, of knowing, and being. Etuaptmumk, a Mi’kmaw term translated as “two-eyed seeing,” is what Peters sees as the future of culturally responsive social work; “Western practice has a place,” she says, “but what has been missing is being able to heal from the L’nu perspective. They can co-exist, and the clients’ needs are what dictates the approach… but this requires a clinician to be familiar and comfortable using a two-eyed approach.”
I am a Mi’kmaw woman and clinical therapist from Pictou Landing First Nation. For the past 12 years, I have been providing counselling and crisis level supports in Mi’kma’ki. I have worked across the entire spectrum of clinical providers including volunteer, not-for-profit, provincial, federal, and now through private practice. Over the course of my career, I have both experienced, and observed, that social workers feel unprepared for clinical work with Indigenous clients/ communities after graduation from university.
When social workers lack awareness of the magnitude of historical trauma, oppression and racism on Indigenous peoples, they will not have the knowledge and tools needed to properly support Indigenous clients in a healthy way; this can result in harming clients and further eroding the trust and respect social workers wish to build with Indigenous communities. Social workers are also at risk of developing dissatisfaction and occupational stress or burnout due to being unable to carry out their ethical duties to promote social justice, support and protect those under their care.
From my own experience as a clinical social worker, educator and consultant, what is needed to better prepare social workers for clinical work in Mi’kma’ki are centred around four foundational pillars:
1. decolonized education and rich cultural learning opportunities;
2. holistic practice that values Indigenous knowledge, culture, language, land-based teachings, and ceremony;
3. a solid understanding of historical/intergenerational trauma and resiliency from the Indigenous ways of knowing and being; and
4. building trust and relationships with the community.
Although I share my own observations here, it is important to note that nobody can claim ownership of Indigenous Knowledge (IK), for our ways of knowing and being have been passed down to us for generations by our ancestors. Furthermore, there are many teachings, and many teachers; there is no single way to think about or do things the L’nu (Indigenous) way. What proceeds below is my own personal learning journey to decolonizing and Indigenizing my worldview and professional practice.
A final note to keep in mind is that Indigenous people are also in the process of unlearning forced colonial ways and reclaiming our beautiful IK. We deserve whatever time is needed and the space to grow and reconnect without interference and further impositions as we engage in this healing.
Social workers have ethical and principled reasons for decolonizing their worldview and professional practice. I first mention the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), which was a Commission formed in 2008 under the Indian Residential School (IRS) Settlement Agreement. Over a period of six years, the Commission travelled across Canada, hearing from over 6,000 witnesses, most being IRS Survivors and their descendants, about their experiences at IRS institutions.
From stilettos to moccasins, seeking Indigenous ways of knowing and being in Mi’kma’ki
Michelle Peters, photograph by Matt Peters
Out of this inquiry, the Commission put forth a list of recommendations which are considered necessary for reconciliation in Canada with Indigenous peoples and are referred to The 94 Calls to Action (CTAs). These actionable policy recommendations are meant to aid in healing trauma by acknowledging the truthful history of residential schools in Canada, and to prevent these abuses from ever happening again in the future (reconciliation education).
The CTAs give recommendations in the areas such as child welfare, education, language and culture, health and justice and more, all of which social workers should be concerned with in their professional practice. Clearly, the TRC and CTAs are critical documents and should guide the work of social work practice in Canada. Additionally, social workers are bounded to professional standards of practice, core values, principles, along with high standards of ethics (Canadian Association of Social Workers, Nova Scotia College of Social Workers).
Social work programs in universities are trying to play catch up with the ever-diversifying populations growing here in Canada. However, there is no other group of peoples that have been more oppressed and harmed in this country than Indigenous peoples. Acknowledging how social work has contributed to on-going colonial violence, oppression and the brutal harms experienced by our people should create a sense of urgency to decolonize all social work education and practice, with a special and separate focus on Indigenizing this profession. Indigenizing social work education and practice should not be optional; it needs to be made mandatory in education and in practice. This honours the TRCs CTAs in the areas of health, justice, Indigenous rights and education.
According to Sheila Cote-Meek (2014), colonialism is conceptualized by four dimensions – it concerns the land, it is sustained by a structure (power and privilege) of ideology about colonized people in order to proceed, it is violent, and it is on-going. It has only been to the benefit of the colonizer and those with power and privilege to disposses Indigenous people; which led to the exploitation of the land and its rich resources across Turtle Island. Colonial violence still continues to be deeply experienced by Indigenous Peoples physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritially. The narrative has always been that Indigenous people are better off assimilated, which makes the oppression, abuse and colonial violence used to accomplish this goal extremely violent and on-going.
Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration states the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge… and oral traditions. Yet, IK has largely been omitted, ignored, or misrepresented (Battiste, 2016) in all levels of education and Eurocentric knowledge has been pushed forward to the exclusion of other forms of knowledge resulting in what Dr. Battiste refers to as a state of cognitive imperialism.
Therefore, social workers in clinical work or other, should seek out and accept opportunities granted to them by Indigenous communities, Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and any other learning opportunities in hopes of acquiring a Two-Eyed Seeing perspective (Marshall, 2017); the ability to see and value both the Indigenous and Western worldviews.
The interconnectedness of the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual self has been deeply woven into the worldview of Indigenous peoples through story sharing and teachings since childhood. Clinical work cannot overlook the importance of being holistic in its approach. Indigenous theories of trauma push far past the limits of Western frameworks, and the result is a decolonized and Indigenized way of knowing and doing clinical practice. Therapy then becomes a form of ceremony, trauma being a soul wound, and the healing through therapy is the process of soul retrieval (Duran, 2019). Soul retrieval reconnects the client to who they truly are as an Indigenous person, and the client gains a holistic and spiritual/energetic understanding of trauma and healing. The client can then take responsibility for their healing work with the guidance and support of the therapist.
Clinical social workers don’t need to be Indigenous Knowledge Keepers to do this work, but they do need to have a foundational understanding of this worldview and support clients in their own efforts to learn and approach their wellbeing in this way without appropriating Indigenous culture, ceremonies, or knowledge in any way. It is wise then to consult Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers to guide your work with Indigenous clients and communities.
Clinical social workers need to have a solid understanding of historical/intergenerational trauma, colonialism and racism, and the impact these have on communities. Through this lens, we are better able to understand violence, addiction, mental health, suicide, poverty etc. as a product of colonialism
(Bombay, 2014) rather than seeing Indigenous peoples as lesser than, less deserving, or deviant. Indigenous peoples enjoyed thousands of years on Turtle Island in good health and as responsible stewards of the lands and waters prior to colonialism. Settlers’ perception of Indigenous peoples was twisted by self-interest; cultural genocide was justified on these lands for over 500 years through false claims that Indigenous peoples were lawless and had innately savage natures (Paul, 2006) and persistent refusal to recognize Indigenous systems of governance.
Indigenous people are so much more than our trauma, and despite all the efforts of the Church and State, we are still here and have risen from the ashes to reclaim our culture, languages, ceremonies, traditions and teachings. Clinical social work must acknowledge both the trauma and the resiliency of Indigenous peoples; support and uplift the client/ communities’ strengths and gifts; and stand in solidarity against all forms of racism, oppression and colonialism.
Indigenous or not, all social workers doing work with Indigenous clients and communities must work hard to build genuine relationships and trust with the clients and communities they serve. We must understand how colonialism, oppression and racism is still deeply ingrained in worldviews, policies and institutions. Being reflective, honest and willing to challenge ourselves in this work will open the door to learning in the spirit of cultural humility.
Being present at community events and in times of need is one way to accomplish this. Being open to conversation and getting to know the community are equally important. Of course, judgement needs to be put away; everyone knows when we are being superficial, and it won’t be forgotten if this is the case.
Clinical social work with Indigenous peoples in Mi’kma’ki must be decolonized and Indigenized in its approach. Here I have identified four foundational pillars for doing this work – decolonizing education and seeking out culturally enriched learning, holistic practice, understanding trauma and resiliency from the Indigenous worldview, and building relationships and trust. Although very simplified here due to writing constraints, I identify what has been most helpful in my own professional practice as an Indigenous practitioner, educator and consultant. My intention as a Ph.D. student is to research more specifically how Indigenous ways of knowing and being can inform clinical practice here in Mi’kma’ki.
MICHELLE PETERS is a L’nu clinical therapist in private practice at Etli Npisimkek Counselling and Consulting Services, and is pursuing a PhD. Her area of specialty is Indigenous mental health, trauma and crisis. She regularly facilitates workshops and consultation around decolonization and cultural safety/inclusiveness. She is a direct descendant of Indian Residential Schools, and is passionate about supporting survivors, families and communities.
Battiste, M. (2016). Visioning a Mi’kmaw humanities: indigenizing the academy. (Battiste, Ed.). Cape Brenton University Press.
Bombay A, Matheson K, Anisman H. (2014). The Intergenerational Effects of Indian Residential Schools: Implications for the Concept of Historical Trauma. Transcultural Psychiatry. 2014. 51(3):320-338. https://doi. org/10.1177/1363461513503380
Cote-Meek. (2014). Colonized classrooms : racism, trauma and resistance in post-secondary education. Fernwood Publishing. Duran. (2019). Healing the soul wound : trauma-informed counseling for indigenous communities (Second edition.). Teachers College Press.
Marshall, A. (October 1st, 2017). Two-Eyed Seeing –Elder Albert Marshall’s guiding principle for intercultural collaboration. Paper presented at the Climate change, drawdown and the human prospect: A retreat for empowering our climate future for rural communities. Retrieved from http://www.integrativescience.ca/uploads/files/TwoEyed%20 SeeingAMarshall-Thinkers%20Lodge2017(1).pdf
National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation 94 Calls to Action. (n.d.). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Retrieved June 2, 2023, from https://www.nrtc.ca
Nova Scotia College of Social Workers Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. Retrieved June 2, 2023, from https://nscsw.org/practice/code-of-ethics
Nova Scotia College of Social Workers Professional Standards of Practice. (n.d.). Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. Retrieved June 2, 2023, from https://nscsw.org/practice/ standards-of-practice
Paul. (2006). We were not the savages : collision between European and native American civilizations (Third edition.). Fernwood Publishing.
United Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (n.d.). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.un.org/ development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-therights-of-indigenous-peoples.html
