Activating the Village: Local Application of the Icelandic Approach

Last week health care practitioners, community members and a variety of helpers came together for a 2-day conference called "Community Matters: Activating the Village to Reduce Drug Related Harms". The conference featured professionals in the field as well as youth with various lived experience in poverty, harmful substance use homelessness with presentations by local experts …

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Child Welfare Legislative Review Committee Submits Report to Government

I am pleased to announce that the Manitoba Child Welfare Legislative Review Committee has submitted its final report to the Manitoba Government entitled "Opportunities to Provide Outcomes for Children and Youth". You can read the full report and today's press release here! It was a very fast process and I know that many people were …

Institutional Hope

Today on World Suicide Prevention Day I want to talk about the way we tell kids to "have hope" that things will get better. To start, I agree we should be asking kids and everyone to have hope. It's a great idea. However, telling people what to do, and showing them how to do it …

What’s In A Name?

There is a debate afoot across Turtle Island around if we should be removing the names of harmful historical people and replacing them with more appropriate figures and names. Right here in Winnipeg, the debate rages around Bishop Grandin Boulevard, in Victoria BC with a monument to Sir John A MacDonald or in Halifax with …

Nearly half of youth incarcerated are Indigenous

This past weekend I was quoted in an article in the Canadian Press responding to this report "Adult and youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2016/2017". And even though the report focuses on overall incarceration stats going down  in Canada, the main media narrative has been that the numbers of Indigenous people incarcerated is increasing. In my work with young people I have been in many court rooms and have connected with many youth as they exit the justice system. My main points were: "I see Indigenous and non-Indigenous people literally doing the exact same crime and not experiencing the same amount of jail time, probation, etc." There is a …

Finding Justice

Justice. Many people have been discussing this topic in light of the recent Colten Boushie case in Saskatchewan. Many people are emotional, discouraged and afraid. It has been heart breaking to see the results of the case and watching the blatant racism, division and arguments happening across social media platforms and in public spaces since …

Lets Talk

There has been a huge push in recent years to have the world recognize how important it is for us to work on and pay attention to mental health. I have been advocating on a number of topics that are important to inner city and Indigenous families and to that end, I am pleased to …

Mansplaining, Manels and Men

In 2017, Time selected the Silence Breakers as the Person of the Year. I, like many of us, applauded this decision and was excited to see this topic and these brave women get the much needed attention they deserve. In the recent months, there seems to be a tidal wave of revelations about the horrible …

MC 1 of 7 people appointed to MB Child Welfare Legislative Review Committee

I'm pleased to announce I will be one of seven appointees to a MB Child And Family Services Legislative Review Committee. There will be several forums, an online submission piece and various ways for us to hear from the kids, the families and the community. We will have a report done by March 2018, and …

Darryl Buck Releases New Album of Round Dance Songs HOPE

Darryl Buck first learned how to sing in ceremony. Hailing from Opaskweyak Cree Nation, today Darryl is sharing his love of Round Dance with the world with his new Album called simply, HOPE. Wanting to share the Cree Culture and language are motivators for Darryl, and he has experienced this first hand leading the All …