Hands Back Hands Forward

Many Indigenous kinship systems follow the extended-family model, which strives to make sure that every child is raised by many mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, aunties and uncles. Elder Ella Deloria says, “Be related, somehow to everyone you know”. Children are taught to relate themselves to people who they see regularly and children are shown great respect when they reciprocate the love and care received from their extend-families.

Why is it important to relate oneself to another? Relating to and treating others as related creates powerful bonds that nurture a sense of belonging, motivate people to show respect and concern for others, and to live a life with purpose.

Within the Aboriginal Focus school, building an extended family-community can be realized in many different ways. Some of the ideas we discussed as a class include bringing Elders into the school in meaningful and appropriate ways, including parental involvement in the classroom and school, and connecting to community Aboriginal organizations.

This video by Invert Media (a Canadian Aboriginal media group) documents a program that connects urban Aboriginal youth with Elders in a cultural education program:

Learn More: Resources

Siem Smun’eem Indigenous Child Welfare Research Network is an organization that helps to connect people with resources and Indigenous research projects that have been meaningful and effective for various communities. The Network offers Community Training Sessions that were developed in collaboration with local community members, including Elders, youth, practitioners and researchers, as a forum to share and develop strategies to protect and nurture our children, families and communities. They provide an opportunity for relationship and skill building for Indigenous people working within Indigenous child welfare research and practice:

Our hope is that participants will be able to use these teachings and share them with others. In the future, we would like to mentor community members in Indigenous research so communities can do the work they need with their own people to re-story, re-name and re-claim re-search for and by Indigenous communities.