Southern Chiefs' Organization invests $1.5M in holistic wellness initiative
The Southern Chiefs' Organization has launched a holistic health-care initiative that it says will centre on the teachings of the Anishinaabe and Dakota Nations of southern Manitoba.
The Healthy Living campaign will contribute to the health of nearly three dozen nations the organization represents, by promoting the physical wellness of youth through basketball, healthy eating through garden competitions, language classes and a First Nation youth drum group, according to a Monday news release from the SCO.
"The 11-year life-expectancy gap is a trend that's not reversing, it's actually getting worse … we really need to put a lot of focus into our health care," Daniels told reporters later at a news conference on Monday.
"We want to highlight the challenges that we're seeing with diabetes. We want to get our young people moving. We want to get that relationship with our food made a priority — knowledge, our culture, our languages."
About two-thirds of the $1.5 million in funding will back young basketball players participating in the revival of the Manitoba Indigenous Summer Games in Sagkeeng from August 17-23.
E.J. Fontaine, chief of Sagkeeng First Nation, told reporters it will be the first time the Games will be held following a 10-year hiatus, and 4,000 athletes, spectators, parents and officials are expected to attend.
"We put together a bid and we proposed to the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Centre to revive the Games, and we were successful in securing the bid along with Norway House," Fontaine said. "It's very important that we're having the Games revived in our communities because we have to give our kids an alternative path to living."
Fontaine says the Games are the physical health part of the four-directions teachings given to him as a young man by an elder: healthy body, healthy soul, healthy mind and healthy spirit.
"I followed that, and when I was 22 years old, I was able to change my life around from being addicted to drugs and alcohol. And I'm really happy that I followed the advice of the elder," Fontaine said.
"It's only through sports and recreation that we're going to steer our kids, our youth, in the right path, away from some of the drug problems we have in our community."
Another $100,000 of funding will go to support summer basketball camps for youth in the 32 Anishinaabe and Dakota Nations that SCO represents.
Themes of wellness
The health campaign focuses on seven themes of wellness as medicine: food, water, movement, community, land, knowledge and culture.
As part of the cultural prong of health, a youth drum group will receive $100,000 to aid in the dissemination of songs and dances to young people, with $300,000 put toward language classes in several SCO communities.
Food and the relationship to food will be encouraged through a garden competitions, Daniels says, as a way to spotlight the work already being done in First Nations communities.
"We've really wanted to promote healthy eating and the relationship with our food … we want to really push for gardening within the schools … change our eating behaviours and really highlight that among our young people," Daniels said.
Willie Moore, the Assembly of First Nations regional chief representing Manitoba, says children in the province have the highest rate of Type 2 diabetes in the world, with 85 per cent being Indigenous.
Moore says it's been 20 years since the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, a Health Canada program, last saw a funding increase.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
29-07-2025
- CBC
Meet Cheech: this Sturgeon Lake healing guide turned from a life of drugs to plant medicine
Social Sharing CBC's virtual road trip series Land of Living Stories explores the hidden gems across Saskatchewan. Reporter Janani Whitfield hit the road to Sturgeon Lake First Nation in search of inspiring stories of community spirit. This is the first of a two-part series from that community. Step inside Sturgeon Lake First Nation's healing lodge, and the smell of drying plants fills the air. Elsewhere in the province, fires rage and smoke fills the sky, but this morning, all is clear and peaceful here in this First Nation that sits on the shores of Sturgeon Lake, surrounded by towering trees. Through the course of the morning, Darren Turner — known to locals as Cheech and the reserve's pharmacist — gets a wave of requests from people looking for his help to find a similar peace within themselves. Want to get rid of heartburn? There's a traditional medicine for that. Want to get rid of negative energy? He hands a man some diamond willow and tells him to burn it in his house. As a respected guide to healing, people seeing Turner now would never know he's had to fight his own inner demons. "I want to be part of helping people because people helped me through my addictions and helped me through my trauma that I went through," he said. Turner is focused on how to support the health of the people in his nation. It's top-most in his mind and the mind of Willie Ermine, the nation's traditional health co-ordinator. Their work isn't surface level. It's at the very heart of the earth and land they live on. Here on their land, they say they can find 90 per cent of the traditional medicines they need to treat any ailment. "I tell people our Cree culture here in the community is like a bag of treasures, and we're not using these treasures," said Ermine. "The more you dig into our treasure bag, the more you uncover all these beautiful things that we have, but we have to grow them." Ermine notes ancestors of Sturgeon Lake First Nation have lived in this area for thousands of years, with Indigenous knowledge keeping their people healthy and alive for centuries. It's Ermine's mission in life to share this knowledge with others, particularly young people. "This is an opportunity to keep showing them, to keep hammering away at this image that we can be a healthy community without alcohol, without drugs. But it needs community cohesion," he said. From violence to medicine It was turning to the land and its medicines that gave Turner his own purpose. Growing up, life was harsh for him growing up in a home where both his parents dealt with addictions and trauma from having lived through residential schools. "I grew up seeing violence, I grew up seeing alcoholism," he said, adding he started drinking at the age of seven or eight. "We didn't have no role models." By the time he was 16, he described himself as "a full-blown junkie." But after 15 years of living that life, he'd seen too many of his friends die, and he was also hospitalized for IV treatment. Then his father got sick. "I kind of grew up not liking my dad because of [him] just not being a good role model to me," he said, adding that when his father got sick, it reminded him of the times when his father had been caring toward him. "When I told him I wanted to quit my addictions, he encouraged me," he said, adding it was the first time in a long time that he listened to what his father had to say. "I said, 'OK, I'll try it.' So we kind of made a bet and then about two weeks later he passed away." That led to Turner seeking methadone treatment and counselling, and a spiritual awakening within himself. When someone recommended he attend a medicine camp in Manitoba, he took the opportunity, which led to four years of learning traditional medicines. As someone living with Hepatitis C, he said he could see the benefit himself when guides showed him the uses of dandelion root to cleanse his liver. He felt clearer in his own mind and once-sluggish body after following their teachings. "It's not just taking the dandelion, just like going with it, but at the same time, going along with that medicine too, taking care of yourself … having a good mind." He and others in this nation just wrapped up an annual trip to the mountains, inviting others to come with them to harvest some of the medicines that can't be found in the local region. These harvested medicines will be shared freely, with Turner only asking for an offering of tobacco or cloth in return. He only hopes to live a good life, and help others do the same. "Most of the times it was pretty negative when I was growing up, and now I have a grandson," he said. "I wanna hug him, I wanna kiss him, you know, things like that … I wanna be around for a long time for me to show them something good." He believes it's his turn to show others unconditional love and support, part of a domino effect for others to become part of a healthier community.
CTV News
23-07-2025
- CTV News
First of two new Elder Lodges opens in Nipissing First Nation
The first seniors are moving into new Elder Lodges on Nipissing First Nation, part of a decades-long effort to keep elders in their community. Two facilities - one in Duchesnay and another opening later in Garden Village - will offer 24/7 care, meals and basic medical support. Eric Taschner has more.
CBC
09-07-2025
- CBC
Winnipeg's emergency services system leaves vulnerable people at risk, says outreach group
Social Sharing A Winnipeg outreach organization is questioning the city's emergency services system after a young woman was left waiting for an ambulance for three hours while experiencing a mental-health crisis on Saturday in the North End. In a statement posted to Facebook, Morgan's Warriors said group members encountered the woman, who was barefoot, limping and appeared to be in a state of psychosis, near Selkirk Avenue and Salter Street around 10:30 p.m. She had been reported to the group as missing from a First Nation in northeastern Manitoba last fall but was much thinner than the photo members had. Once they realized who it was, and learned the woman had a history of mental health issues and missing person reports, members called 911. A Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service truck arrived within minutes but the distressed woman began to wander away and the first responders never followed, according to the outreach group. The WFPS, in a statement to CBC News on Tuesday, said staff provides an "observational assessment" if a person flees from their crews. Wait for help during mental health emergency too long: outreach group 14 hours ago Duration 1:20 "If individuals decline assistance they must be competent and understand the risks associated with refusing assistance," the statement said. WFPS said crews typically call police if they believe a person is a danger to themselves or others. Members of Morgan's Warriors said they called 911 three more times after first responders left, until police showed up 30 minutes later. George Robinson, a search lead with the group that was at the scene on Saturday night, said members were "completely disregarded" once police arrived. "We had the feeling that we weren't wanted there. But we knew if we left, they would leave," he said. It was three hours before the ambulance arrived and the woman, who had been sitting agitated in the grass with police nearby, was taken to hospital around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. "I thank God all the time that we're out there. We're in places where [first responders] can't be and we've saved lives," said Morgan's Warriors founder Melissa Robinson, but "we just don't have enough people on the streets." Both Melissa and George Robinson said they would like to see communication between police, firefighters, paramedics and community services change, especially when it comes to missing persons cases. Despite her history of missing person reports, the woman had not been listed with the Winnipeg Police Service as missing at the time officers responded Saturday, the WPS told CBC News in an email Tuesday. Officers contacted the woman's family before she was transported to hospital, the WPS said. Melissa Robinson said that many families of missing Indigenous women have lost faith in the police and look elsewhere for help. Morgan's Warriors posts missing persons reports to their website on behalf of families looking for their loved ones. "Not everything that we post has an incident number, missing persons file number. We do it because family reaches out to us and because the police are of no help. The police won't file a report, and we hear that so often," she said. "You have families that don't even want to reach out to the police for assistance because they're not taking them seriously." George Robinson said the outreach group doesn't know where the woman is now, or if she's safe. The WFPS said it could not comment on its response as medical calls are covered under the confidentiality of the Personal Health Information Act. "We're still looking for her, still looking out for her. We won't give up, even if she did leave the hospital," George Robinson said.
