Proceedings of the Subcommittee on Population Health
Issue 3 - Evidence - March 27, 2009 (Afternoon meeting)
OTTAWA, Friday, March 27, 2009
The Subcommittee on Population Health of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology met this day at 1:30 p.m. to examine and report on the impact of the factors and conditions that contribute to the health of Canada's population — known collectively as the social determinants of health.
Senator Wilbert J. Keon (Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Chair: Honourable senators and guests, we want to proceed to hear about the daycare centre. We have a number of people from Seabird Island First Nation. We can see all of you; I hope you can see all of us. I am Senator Keon. On my right are Senator Cook, Senator Eaton, Senator Pépin and Senator Champagne.
We will begin by hearing from Ms. Brown, the daycare supervisor. We would like to hear about the daycare centre.
Carlene Brown, Daycare Supervisor, Seabird Island First Nation: I am the early childhood program supervisor for the Seabird Island Band. I supervise the daycare centre and the preschool program. Our child care centre has a licence for 47 children from the ages of birth to six years old. We have three separate sides: The infant side, which has a licence for 12 children from 0 to 18 months; our toddler side, which has a licence for children from 18 months to 3 years of age; and the 3-to-5 side, which has a licence for 3 year olds to 6 year olds. We have 25 children on that side.
The Chair: How many employees do you have?
Ms. Brown: We have 12 staff who work with the children as well as a janitor who does our meals and the cleanups for us.
The Chair: Do your 12 people take care of the children in every age group or have you specialty care for the younger ones?
Ms. Brown: We do have specialty care. Most of our staff is designated per site but they do interchange and mix. They get a chance to work with all the children.
The Chair: Have we any questions for Ms. Brown?
Senator Eaton: Can the witnesses introduce themselves so that we know who is representing whom?
The Chair: I will on call them and then they will tell us what they do.
Ms. Suave, would you describe what your role is in the centre and tell us about what you do?
Cheryl Suave, Staff, Seabird Island First Nation: I work in the infant program at Seabird Island. I work in different capacities, providing care for newborns up to 3 years of age. Our program is primarily a home-based program. However, we also access community programs such as the daycare centre, making referrals to the daycare centre for families with whom we work. I provide developmental information to families for their children as well. I am also involved with other programs at Seabird Island such as the Head Start Program and the Parent and Tots Program, encouraging and supporting parents to attend this program.
There are many other programs offered at Seabird, for example, kinder music programs. I support and encourage parents to attend these programs. In my position, I also teach infant massage. The massage is important because it helps parents understand attachment and encourages total communication with their babies. I work in many different capacities in trying to encourage parents and support them to access as many programs and, most importantly, the one that we are talking about today, the daycare.
Senator Champagne: Good afternoon. What kind of training did you receive, Ms. Suave? Where did you obtain it? What prepared you to do this job looking after children and, from what you said, teaching other people around you?
Ms. Suave: That is a great question. My education is in early childhood education with special needs and infant and toddler development. I have worked in the field of early childhood education in many different capacities for probably over 20 years, working with babies and toddlers and working in programs with infant-aged children with special needs.
I have been very privileged to work at Seabird Island and to have the opportunity to train. I was able to take training for infant massage through the International Association of Infant Massage. I have been able to teach classes here at Seabird as well as providing one-to-one intervention with families in their homes. I am a mother with two children, so I think that gives me a lot of experience as well.
The Chair: Ms. Ludman. You are a parent, right?
Fallon Ludman, Parent, Seabird Island First Nation: Yes.
The Chair: Would you tell us about your use of the centre and what the centre does for you, and so on?
Ms. Ludman: My daughter has been attending since she was about six months old. I came back to work full-time when she was eight months old. I would not be able to work if the daycare was not there because I do not have anyone to watch her. It is a great daycare; she loves it. She cries to go there on weekends. She loves the field trips. You learn things there.
Senator Eaton: How old is she?
Ms. Ludman: She is three years old right now.
Senator Eaton: Has she started to do letters or to look at books?
Ms. Ludman: Yes.
Senator Eaton: How do you find she compares with children who do not go to the daycare? Have you had a chance to observe that?
Ms. Ludman: Yes. She has known the alphabet since she was 18 months old. She also knows all the colours. She is really smart.
Senator Eaton: Does the daycare encourage you to do things at home with her, like read to her at night?
Ms. Ludman: Yes. I read to her every night. She can recognize certain words and colours.
Senator Eaton: What about physical activities? Do they play games that teach her to use her coordination?
Ms. Ludman: Yes; all kinds. They do puzzles, games and crafts every day. I get tons of crafts in my cubby everyday.
Senator Eaton: What about parental support? Do you feel you can ask them questions if you are stumped or to get some advice?
Ms. Ludman: Yes. They helped me a lot because my daughter had eczema when she was a baby and I had to put six different creams on her every couple of hours.
Senator Eaton: They have helped you with medical advice as well?
Ms. Ludman: Yes.
Senator Pépin: Ms. Suave, you say that you accept new-born babies. When you say ``newborn,'' are they babies that are one month or six months old? When are newborns accepted? At how many months old do you accept them?
Ms. Brown: The youngest one we have had at the daycare centre was three months old when she started. That was for medical reasons. It was a mumps situation.
Senator Pépin: Is your daycare centre open seven days a week, on weekends or at night? What is its schedule?
Ms. Brown: We are open Mondays to Fridays, from 7:30 to 5:30.
Senator Pépin: Do you have an after-school daycare centre?
Ms. Brown: There is an after-school program here on Seabird Island, as well, which takes children aged 6 to 12.
Senator Pépin: That is great.
Senator Eaton: May I ask a supplementary carrying on from Senator Pépin's question? When you get newborns, do you have ways of testing them for things like fetal alcohol syndrome, autism or any of the other medical challenges that some newborns face?
Ms. Brown: We do use screening tools at the daycare centre. We use the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQs). As staff, if we have any concerns then we would bring in Ms. Sauve's program, because she has more hands-on experience with the more detailed assessment tools.
Senator Callbeck: Where is Seabird Island?
Ms. Brown: It is located in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, approximately an hour and a half outside Vancouver.
Senator Callbeck: How many children do you have in the daycare centre?
Ms. Brown: We are licensed for 47 full-time children.
Senator Callbeck: How is the centre financed?
Ms. Brown: We have parent fees. Parents who are unable to pay receive subsidy through the ministry. Also, we do get some funding from the Sto:lo Nations Resources Development.
Senator Callbeck: Ms. Suavé, you mentioned programs for parents. Do you have good attendance at these programs?
Ms. Suave: There is often very good attendance. In our community here at Seabird Island, we really need to do a lot of relationship building, for families to feel comfortable and to want to be able to find out and go to the different options that are available to them.
Once that relationship is established, it is often very successful in encouraging them and having them access programs such as the Seabird Island daycare, preschool programs, parent-tots programs, pre- and postnatal programs, massage classes, music programs and different resources in the community such as library programs, et cetera.
The Chair: Ms. Nickel, will you tell us how you use the centre?
Bonnie Nickel, Parent, Seabird Island First Nation: I have two children, ages four and five years old. They attended the daycare centre since they were each one year old. They started on the toddler side. Both of my children have been part of the supportive health development. They have received speech and other therapy.
The best part about the daycare is it teaches them a lot of empathy for other children, as well, so that, when my children are away from the daycare centre and are in different play areas, they are able to be kind and gentle. They are taught proper manners. As Ms. Ludman mentioned, without the daycare, I would not be able to attend work.
The Chair: What do you work at, Ms. Nickel? Do you work from nine o'clock until five o'clock?
Ms. Nickel: Yes.
The Chair: You do not have to work weekends or nights?
Ms. Nickel: No, luckily I have an 8:30 to 4:30 job, Mondays to Fridays.
Senator Andreychuk: May I ask what you do?
Ms. Nickel: I am a community health rep. I work for Seabird Island but I am in located in Chawathil and Skawahlook First Nations.
Senator Callbeck: How large is Seabird Island?
Steven MacKinnon, Technician, Seabird Island First Nation: One thousand, nine hundred and forty-three hectares. My name is Steven MacKinnon and I am a network engineer.
Senator Callbeck: What are those size dimensions, what is the population and so on?
Mr. MacKinnon: The island is 5.2 kilometres long by 3.18 kilometres wide. The population is approximately 800 people.
Senator Callbeck: How far is it to the mainland?
Mr. MacKinnon: We say Seabird Island but the island part is a misnomer; we are directly connected to the mainland.
Senator Callbeck: I live on Prince Edward Island and we have a link to the mainland but we still consider we are an island.
Mr. MacKinnon: True enough. I am a Maritimer so I know what you are talking about.
Senator Pépin: If you had a service you would like to improve what would it be? If they were to tell you there is one service that you might like to have, which would it be? What do you require?
Ms. Brown: I think we are doing what we can do but mental health services for young children are a big concern for us. Therefore, I would say: More counselling available for younger children.
Senator Pépin: Do you have doctors or nurses who are specialized in mental health for children or adults?
Ms. Brown: Yes, we do. We have a doctor's clinic at the Seabird offices as well as health nurses on board. We do have counsellors and some mental health professionals.
Senator Pépin: Thank you.
The Chair: How does your Native culture fit into all of this? Your children are being educated and, Ms. Nickel, one or both of your children has had some speech therapy. Is this all done in English or is it done in a Native language?
Ms. Nickel: The speech therapy is done in English but they do have a Halkomelem language that they do learn at the daycare centre.
The Chair: What language do you speak at home?
Ms. Nickel: We speak English.
Senator Pépin: Does everyone speak English at home?
Ms. Nickel: The children's father does speak a little bit of Halkomelem.
Senator Cook: Thank you for sharing with us today. I heard you say that someone could not be with you today, so are we missing someone that we have not heard because I am counting five people. I have five right here.
Carolyn Neufeld, Health Director, Seabird Island First Nation: I am Carolyn Neufeld, the health director. Ms. Beadman could not come at the last minute so I volunteered to sit in should there be any questions.
Senator Cook: I come from the Province of Newfoundland, where there is a reserve called Conne River. It is very self-sufficient, if I may say. They have their clinic on the reserve; they have their schools, kindergarten to Grade 12. They are self-sufficient with all the facilities they need for a growing family. They do not need to go elsewhere.
I would like to compare Conne River with how your reservation or your community or your home is structured. My first question is: Do you have a health clinic on site and how is it staffed?
Ms. Neufeld: Yes, we do have a health clinic. We have a full dental office with three dentists and full staff. We have two physicians and as a nurse practitioner with a full six-member staff. They are Monday to Friday clinics, though. They are not weekend or emergency services. A one-stop shop is exactly what we wanted here. We wanted families to access everything that was needed within the community so that we could support families throughout the transitions of life.
We are very fortunate; we have high school, elementary school, daycare, preschool, and we just opened our college, and we continue to try to bridge any gaps we find.
Senator Cook: The people who bring those skills and staff your community, do they come from within your community or do they come from without?
Ms. Neufeld: It is some of both. Our first priority is to try to train up people within Seabird Island. We have just advertised for an LPN program that drew 39 applicants and our daycare centre is a star in that department. We have run two early childhood education programs, with I believe over 30 graduates. As well we have run family child care programs and special needs programs. We are recently training for the responsible adult program. Also, we give opportunities for everyone in Seabird to find a job or an interest or an area, and hopefully bring the training right here so they do not have to go far. Some will stay and some will go other places, but at least they have opportunities.
Senator Cook: Are you saying that if they wish to go, you have them ready to go?
Ms. Neufeld: Exactly. We believe in the salmon theory: Catch and release. They will come home some day when they are ready.
Senator Cook: If you had a wish list, what would you like to be on it, as it pertains to the needs of your community?
Ms. Neufeld: One of the biggest things we would like to develop is a centre of excellence in early childhood programs. We want to put all of the services for early childhood under one roof. That means language, maternal-child, supportive child care, daycare, preschool and, if we could, child mental health play therapy. We also wanted to look at the physiotherapy and occupational therapy. We would like an all-in-one centre.
We currently look after 13 other bands here so we have a huge outreach. We have a bus program that operates over a distance of 250 kilometres. We end up getting a lot of referrals and many opportunities to help parents all over. We really would like to build the centre of excellence in training, research and everything else that deals with the Aboriginal experience.
Senator Cook: How are you funded? I heard you say that you provide services for other bands. Do they make a contribution? How are your activities funded?
Ms. Neufeld: Several different ways. The Ministry of Children and Families provides us with funding for supported child care, including aboriginal infant development programs. The ARDA (Agricultural and Rural Development Agreement) or employment services also supports us at the daycare. There are parent fees and subsidies. Seabird Island band contributes a large portion of any revenues they have from their gas fund towards programs and services here. There is Health Canada, of course, with its Head Start and other programs. INAC also helps fund the preschool because it is a full-day, five days a week preschool. We blend funding to make it all happen.
Senator Cook: You are to be commended for that.
Do you have a base of volunteers that help you with the numerous activities and the programs you run on your reserve?
Ms. Brown: Our parents are wonderful. They volunteer a lot of time to come on our field trips with us. We do have elders who come into our programs to do activities with us. There are volunteers, yes.
Ms. Neufeld: In regard to the volunteers, it is also important to know one key thing about Seabird. We are trying to get a lot of volunteers for sports groups and things like that, because they needed to fundraise. We decided not to cater out or purchase any food outside our sports groups. Now all our sports volunteer groups provide internal catering — supplies and everything else — so them are able to provide sporting events for their own children. That has been very successful.
Senator Cook: I will ask a final question, and it is a sensitive one. Are drugs a problem amongst your young people?
Ms. Neufeld: Drugs are a problem across Canada. I will not say that Seabird has any more or any less than across Canada. We have a low unemployment rate: A lot of our people are employed. A lot of people are very open for counselling and getting help, but they do still struggle with issues, such as dropping out of school. I do not think drug use is any higher than anywhere else.
Senator Cook: Thank you for sharing that with me.
The Chair: Have we any other questions?
It seems to me you are serving quite a large region. Seabird Island itself is small but you are servicing many people outside. Is that correct?
Ms. Brown: Yes.
Senator Champagne: Were all of you born on the island or did you come from the mainland?
Ms. Ludman: I was born here.
Senator Champagne: Who else? Were you born in the Vancouver area or did you come from Eastern Canada?
Ms. Brown: I was born and raised in Vancouver.
Senator Champagne: What brought you to Seabird Island?
Ms. Brown: I was offered the position as the supervisor of the daycare centre so my family and I moved from Vancouver out to Agassiz, which is about five minutes away from Seabird, and I have been here for almost 11 years now.
Senator Champagne: How about the other ones that were not born there exactly? Where did you come from and what brought you to Seabird?
Ms. Suave: I was born in Calgary, Alberta, and moved to B.C. My husband and I live about 40 minutes from Seabird Island and I commute every day. I absolutely love it here. I cannot fancy being anywhere else. It is an amazing place.
Ms. Nickel: I was raised on Vancouver Island, on a little island called Quadra. I moved to Vancouver to attend college and went to Seabird five years ago. I have been here ever since.
Ms. Neufeld: I was born in the Queen Charlotte Islands. My great-grandfather was originally a British navy person, who jumped ship and married his Aboriginal wife here. They homesteaded about 10 kilometres down the road, and I grew up maybe 25 kilometres down the road from here and came back about 13 years ago to start work.
Senator Champagne: Pardon me for my nosiness, but I wanted to know, if you were not born and bred there, from where you came and what had brought you. So now we even have a ``once upon a time'' story with the British officer marrying a native woman and there you are. I think you are doing a marvellous job with those children. You might have as a motto: Help thyself and heaven will help you. You are a tangible example of what can be done. I do congratulate you with all my heart.
The Chair: Is there anything you would like to ask the senators? Have you any questions for us?
Ms. Brown: What exactly is your role?
The Chair: We are doing a report on population health aimed at improving the overall health and well-being and productivity of Canadians who are not as healthy as other Canadians, in other words, correcting the health disparities that exist in Canada. A substantial portion of our report is devoted to Aboriginal people. We are just interested in how well you are doing in your area, how well you are satisfied with your facilities and this kind of thing.
We intended to take a road trip out in that area and drop in on you, but we have run out of time. We have to get our report finished up, so we are doing video conferencing instead and are grateful that you took the time to come in and talk with us.
Senator Pépin: We were told that women from the native community are very dynamic and involved in their community. Is that the case on your little island? Maybe much more than the men, I do not know.
Ms. Brown: Many of the females on Seabird are working in the community. Six daycare staff are community members who went through school here on Seabird, did the program and are now working full-time in the daycare centre.
Senator Champagne: Obviously you are a success story and you can be congratulated. Please accept our thanks for talking with us today.
The Chair: Thank you all very much. Now back to work.
(The committee adjourned.)