Generation to generation: When aboriginal elders speak, youth listen

CrossCurrents

By Lesley Young

One day recently, an aboriginal elder took a group of foster children on a medicine walk through the lush cedar forests of Duncan, British Columbia. Along the way, the elder pointed out plants that could be used as medicine. One six-year-old foster child later put the advice to use: After hurting her ankle playing, she wrapped it in the healing ferns she had learned about and pulled her sock up over it all on her own.

This day-long excursion and the lessons it taught are an example of the valuable role that aboriginal elders can play in ensuring that the future of youth includes a strong link to the cultural knowledge and traditions that will ground them in their identity as aboriginal peoples. At Surrounded by Cedar, an aboriginal child and family welfare agency in Victoria, BC, and the host of the medicine walk, elders pro­vide a crucial cultural component to social services.

Shelly Johnson, chief executive officer of the agency, relies on the unique perspective of the Elders’ Advisory Committee, of which many members themselves had difficult childhoods, including the experience of the residential schools, where they were forcibly removed from their families. “Many have also fought long battles with addiction and mental health issues,” says Johnson. “They have a lot of patience and compassion and an absolute determination to make things different for this generation and those after them.”

“Elder” is a title that refers to members of aboriginal communities – usually older, but not always – who are respected and honoured for their spirituality, wisdom, life experience and teachings. When it comes to services for children and youth with mental health and substance use issues, elders play various roles, from helping to develop policy to providing hands-on guidance and support. At Surrounded by Cedars, for example, elders played a key role in defining the vision and mission of the organization and insisted that for the organization to be truly helpful, all staff should be aboriginal.

Elders are also directly involved with youth, participating in cultural and social programs such as crafts, traditional drumming and nature walks. The Surrounded by Cedar annual back-to-school picnic, a fundraiser to ensure aboriginal children have school supplies, provides an opportunity for elders to get one-on-one time with kids.

These events provide opportunities for elders to pass along aboriginal traditions and with that, a sense of belonging, says Midewiwin chief and elder Jim Dumont, who is a board member of the Nimkee NupiGawagan, a youth solvent abuse treatment centre in Muncey, Ontario. “At Nimkee, connecting youth with their indigenous identity is essential to the healing process,” says Dumont. “Once they are connected to their culture, they are connected to their spirit and spirituality. Elders are key to this process.”

Connecting kids with their culture includes passing along aboriginal teachings, such as the “Seven Gifts” (or life values). Dumont says the gift of kindness is especially pertinent to troubled youth. According to aboriginal culture, animals and humans were born pre­disposed to care about one another; however, many aboriginal children do not experience this growing up, says Dumont.

Knowing that elders are available and willing to listen goes a long way to finding that meaning and value in life, says Freda Shaughnessy, a Kwakwakwakw elder on Surrounded by Cedar's advisory council and an elder at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre. “When they move from the reserve to the city, we lose kids; they are no long-grounded.” She says it helps them just to talk to elders – she will take the bus through town to touch base with aboriginal youth on the streets. Shaughnessy is an example of how older generations, who are not necessarily “elders” in the official sense (although she is), are highly regarded and often play a significant role in raising children. She raised her grandchildren and is now raising her great grandson. “You have to share what you’ve got, otherwise it gets lost,” she says. Shaughnessy takes her grandson to aboriginal ceremonies that include singing, clapping, storytelling and drumming. She sees how much young people enjoy the cultural programs. “When we take kids, even non-native kids, to sweat lodges, they love it.”

The respect and honour bestowed upon aboriginal elders can serve as an example to mainstream society, which often views older adults as a burden, says Johnson. Dumont agrees: “In dominant society, when you reach a certain age you’re put out to pasture. Native people are in danger of mimicking that,” he says. “The way native people respect, honour and include older generations and uphold the importance of elders is something everyone can learn from.”

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