Ottawa, Ontario- On January 24th and 25th, 2024, Aboriginal Legal Services Executive Director, Chantell Barker and Program Manager, Ryan Welsh, attended the Indigenous Child and Family Well-being Conference in Ottawa. This conference hosted by the Association of Native Child and Family Services Agencies of Ontario (ANCFSAO) and Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services had over 700 people in attendance.
The workshop topic was “Breaking Intergenerational Impacts and Healing” an interactive workshop that allows participants to recognize the impacts of colonization on families and communities. Using the Medicine Wheel, the participants will identify life before contact and colonization, recognize the impacts of colonization, and assess the impacts of colonization on families today. The participants will explore ideas on how to heal families and restore identity to break intergenerational impacts.
The workshop was well received with participants requesting instructions on how to facilitate the workshop within their own organizations. There were several follow up emails from participants expressing their appreciation for the workshop and requesting the PowerPoint presentation and instructions. Attending the conference was also an excellent networking opportunity.
Chantell Barker