A commitment to the concept of family-centred practice is key to the promising practices and approaches now in use in the First Nations communities that participated in this project. Also key is the concept of providing supports and services for children within the broader scope of their culture and their community.
The participating First Nations are all working on long-term, comprehensive community development plans similar to the “comprehensive community initiatives" that have been discussed elsewhere in Canada as promising approaches to poverty reduction, community revitalization, and sustainable development:
“Comprehensive Community Initiatives are holistic, developmental, and long-term. They are multisectoral and seek to be inclusive. They are concerned with both process and outcomes ... They seek to create opportunities for individuals and families to improve their lives in many different ways. Various projects may be undertaken to ensure access to nutritious food, provide training that will help lead to decent employment or promote access to high-quality, affordable child care."*
programs for young children and
strengthened community capacity – indicate that these are promising practices from which we all can learn.
The models being developed in these communities provide culturally appropriate, holistic ways of addressing diverse needs and are inherently strong models for other rural and small communities. They create efficiencies that in turn lead to greater program stability, and they enable staff development and mutual support. The result is both coordinated and continuous service for children and, through co-located programs, “laddered" supports and services for parents.
ROMANOW
The Romanow Commission strongly recommended inter-sectoral service delivery, particularly for improving the health of Aboriginal people and Canadians residing in rural and remote settings. In the Commission's report, the National Aboriginal Health Organization states that: “...one of the essential ingredients in creating effective Aboriginal health systems is a multi-jurisdictional approach to health service reform."*
*Romanow, R.J. (2002). Building on values: The future of
health care in Canada. Final Report of the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. Ottawa: National
Library of Canada.
However, because First Nations cultures are diverse, it is unlikely that any one vision, plan or model will be universally applicable for all First Nations communities or, indeed, for any other communities that share the goal of developing a coordinated, culturally informed and useful approach to promoting the well-being of young children and families.
IN CLOSING
Experts anticipate that the number of young children in the Aboriginal population in Canada will grow at twice the rate of young children in the rest of the Canadian
population over the next decade.
It will require a significant commitment of funding to support community-driven initiatives to strengthen the capacity of First Nations communities to:
• provide post-secondary training in early childhood care and development that is delivered in or near the students' home communities to ensure high retention and completion, and
• implement and operate coordinated, comprehensive child-care and development services.
Communities that are ready and have the will to see a vision through to successful
implementation will need funding to develop both the hard infrastructure (buildings and equipment) and the soft infrastructure (including enabling policies, training in human services, effective governance for
service developments and delivery, the appointment of administrators and management) that is required to support the delivery of services to First Nations children and families. Researchers, too, will need funding to develop “community- relevant" criteria and tools for measuring program performance, and to enable the effective communication of new knowledge so that further promising practices can be identified and shared. In addition, within this broad framework, targeted funding will be needed:
• to plan and deliver the cultural curriculum, including the teaching of heritage language, and to transport Elders and provide honoraria for Elders’ visits to the child-care program, and
• to cover expenses for child-care staff to attend professional development training and conferences and to support substitute staff during their absence, as well as for professional mentors to assist front-line staff in developing leadership skills. Our research also underscores the need – within rural Canada in particular – for funding agencies, branches of government, regulatory bodies, community administrators and training institutions to open up the foundations of how community development and service delivery are conceived and
supported. Institutions, as well, need to work cooperatively across professional disciplines and jurisdictional boundaries, streamlining both access to resources and accountability requirements. And they need to engage in supportive, long-term partnerships with communities that will enable the
communities to evolve and to implement creative approaches over time.
The promising practices demonstrated by the First Nations that participated in this research have shown how good governance,
forethought, ingenuity, and an ability to think holistically can create service systems that:
• are cost- and resource-efficient • increase access to social support, child
care, health care and family services, and • are tailored to the culture, circumstances, readiness, needs and goals of their own populations.
It is clear that capacity-building initiatives must be anchored deeply within each community’s own socio-historical context, geography, culture and mission. Successful innovations build on a community’s existing strengths, potential for cultural
reconstruction, and ability to push forward strategies for achieving internally identified goals. Each community that shares the goal of developing a coordinated, culturally informed and useful approach to promoting the well-being of young children and families must be given enough flexibility and long- term support to evolve and implement its own long-term vision.