Serving Where the Need is Greater

By Nana Araba Asaam, 2nd year MDP student

The end of the seemingly long road is finally here! I cannot believe how fast these months have gone by. When I started the MDP program, I always wondered when it would end or if I would even be able to complete this journey successfully. Well, almost two years later, I find myself writing about my final field placement experience which crowns this most wonderful journey. To my cohort, I will miss you guys! All the best in your future endeavors!

Peguis Flood Response - On site with colleagues

I have had a great time this past 12 weeks with the Manitoba Canadian Red Cross (MB CRC). Before signing on to work as a practicum student, I had established a relationship with Red Cross as a volunteer so I had the confidence that I would gain something valuable at the end of the placement and I was quite right. The Canadian Red Cross is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world whose mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world. What attracted me to this organization is the diverse opportunities given to people to voluntarily demonstrate their caring for others in need. Since this is what I have always been interested in and what the MDP is all about, I saw working with MB CRC as an opportunity to demonstrate how important it is to me to care for others in need.

Within the MB CRC I worked with the Disaster Management (DM) Program. This is the program that prepares for and manages the organization’s response to disasters throughout all of Canada. A cornerstone activity during response is the delivery of services to clients, to provide relief immediately following a disaster, and to support recovery efforts for extended periods of time. During the first few weeks with DM, I responded to the Manitoba flooding which affected numerous communities including Peguis, Long Plain, Sioux Valley, and Canupawakpa First Nations.

Emergency Response Operation Centre

I was further tasked to work on the First Nation communities demographic and disaster preparedness survey which required me to precisely apply my research skills gained from the MDP program. This survey is intended to help DM know more about all 63 First Nation communities in Manitoba, how resilient and prepared they are to handle disasters such as floods, fires and tornados that may threaten their safety and lives when they occur. Working on this project, I learned a lot more about First Nation communities through face to face and over the phone conversations with community leaders and members.  

I also worked on the Ready When the Time Comes (RWTC) project which involved searching for organizations who would be willing to lend their workers as volunteers to help provide emergency relief when a large-scale disaster occurs. RWTC trains employees and members of MB CRC partnering corporations and organizations to become disaster response reservists. This means in the event of a large-scale disaster these individuals are called upon to provide the Red Cross team with response assistance. The purpose of this program is to develop an emergency preparedness and response culture by increasing the volunteer capacity of the Red Cross. This was a very important project that demanded that I use diligent decision making skills to determine which organization was to be partnered with. 

To broaden the scope of my experience with MB CRC, I also accepted to work with the Respect Education program. This program works to create safe environments free of violence – abuse, bullying, exploitation – through prevention education and response. The focus of the program is on children and youth. To keep young people safe, Respect Education informs adults, youth and children, and works with individuals of all genders, backgrounds and status. 

CRC Mission Statement

Observing and working with staff and volunteers who give off their time, skill and very best to help the most vulnerable, I now have a deeper understanding of what it means to be humanitarian. I am glad to be sharing in CRC’s mission “to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world”. 

The rest of the summer I responded to the Manitoba fires which threatened the safety of Poplar River First Nation as well as other neighboring communities. I encourage all my friends, cohort, and anybody who is reading this to volunteer for CRC to contribute to the success of its mission. I can guarantee that doing this would bring inner satisfaction, peace and joy.

FNHSSM is the Indigenous Development experience

By Gabriela Jimenez, 2nd year MDP student

Nanaandawewigamig FNHSSM blankets in the boardroom

The First Nations Health and Social Secretariat (FNHSSM) is the organization that hosts Partners for Engagement and Knowledge Exchange (PEKE). FNHSSM has multiple types of research projects, health interventions, educational programs and many other activities; most of them implemented in Manitoba, but also with national and international scope. So, because having holistic good health is one of the most important aspects of development, I think that the contribution of this organization to the Indigenous development in Manitoba is enormous. 

FNHSSM has a prominent level of commitment with First Nations communities; and in order to preserve and revitalize the “traditional, cultural and modern ways of healing,” they ensure that the Elders participate in the knowledge exchange between western and traditional methods to enhance communities’ health. Every activity held by FNHSSM is developed in a culturally safe and respectful environment.

Because of my field placement with PEKE, I had the privilege to attend different organizational meetings, talks, discussions, workshops and seminars. Some of them are oriented to educate and integrate FNHSSM community: employees, families, partners, advisers, etc.  In my opinion, these activities, besides demonstrating the significant role of FNHSSM for community development, they also give employees the opportunity to present their perspectives and to hear others’ experiences regarding current and relevant health-related topics in the provincial and national context.

I have learned not only from my assigned responsibilities, but also from the always-happy office colleagues, from other intern students, the nutritionist, the community speakers, doctors and researchers. It is always challenging to decolonize research, and I consider that this placement was my opportunity to practice decolonization on my own mindset. 

It is the end of the field placement, and I know that the Evaluation Plan was my deliverable that implied much more than academic or professional knowledge; it was the pretext to learn from people that are highly committed to work hard to make a change in others’ lives, especially those affected by colonialism.

The FNHSSM staff - smiling as usual

At the end of the line

 By Stephen Penner, 2nd year MDP student

The Yup’ik communities that I have travelled to and the Yup’ik people that I have travelled with have shown me another side to what it means to be “Indigenous.” The YK Delta (Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta) homeland of the Yup’ik sits literally as west in the west that you can go out of sight to the average Alaskan and invisible the rest of the USA.  Most Yup’ik communities are fly in, outside of a few exceptions, and are served by small (6-8 seater) planes that arrive without a great deal of regularity.  20,000 Yup’ik people live in 56 villages that span this immense territory- as vast as Nebraska or equal to just over 2.3% of the size of Canada.

Bird on a wire

The Yup’ik people are part of the Inuit and Inupiat (Alaskan Inuit- a term not as commonly used but assumed by academics and scholars) family.   The Yup’ik are considered  a tribal nation and are part of The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971.  ANCSA is a sort of modern treaty- interpreted to a Canadian context- funding both the non-profit and the for-profit entities within the Yup’ik and the 4 other distinct Alaskan tribal territories.

Fishing boat

I had visited many Northern Indigenous communities before my first visit to a Yup'ik community. It felt uniquely remote.  In contrast, I feel connected to the south while traveling in Northern Canada; hamlet offices display the communities' connection to the rest of Canada, the RCMP, and Co-op/North West Company and the Arctic Rangers being prominent reminders of the North/South connection. The Alaskan community remains deeply proud of its Yup’ik culture and roots, eminently respectful of its Elders and has created a culture of inclusion to visitors like me.

The work that chose me for my final MDP placement was to re-connect and re-engage with Dr. Stacy Rasmus a researcher from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I first encountered her work while attending the model Arctic Council last year. I was simply floored at the role that she played in empowering communities to deal with a host of health-related problems.

That being said, my path was not entirely clear when I arrived. I spent the first week digesting Qungasvik (Yup’ik for tool kit) and gaining book knowledge in regards to how I needed to walk with respecting the Yup’ik story, before engaging with community. And understanding the power of this tool.

The Qungasvik is a community-built response and a community-delivered suicide and alcohol reduction program.  It promotes youth sobriety and reasons for living. Qungasvik was built out of a suicide epidemic in Alakanuk, another Yup’ik village, and that village has seen an almost complete reversal in suicides since the full implementation of the toolbox. 

The Qungasvik provides communities with connections to Elders, to stories with resources, readings, land based activities, videos and more.  The tool kit is used by a community response team and is built on a culturally relevant platform.  As an outsider, I can never understand the Yup’ik experience, but I have come to deeply appreciate the learnings, objectives and goals of the tool kit during my short time in Alaska.