Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Ensuring children in the Northwest Territories reach their potential begins long before they're born, says the territory's top health official.

"We have to start as early as possible," said Dr. Andre Corriveau, chief public health officer.

Corriveau was just one of the professionals who attended a Yellowknife meeting about early childhood development the week of Jan. 23.

The meeting was part of the territory's work to update its 2001 Early Childhood Development Framework. Representatives from the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, elders, experts and community leaders attended.

Jackson Lafferty, minister of education, culture and employment, said participants agreed devoting attention to children ages zero to three is key.

"We've been told from experts and elders, we need to focus on the early, early years," Lafferty said. "That's where the prime investment should be."

Corriveau said a baby's first year is vitally important to its future development.

"The close interaction in the first year of life, it has a huge impact throughout our lifetime," he said.

Corriveau said learning how to raise healthy babies should be part of the territory's high school curriculum.

Participants discussed placing more emphasis on the benefits of breastfeeding, he also said.

Breastfeeding has shown to help build up babies' immune systems and reinforces a bond between mother and infant.

But Corriveau said in order to get the most out of breastfeeding, mothers need to eat well and try to reduce stress, which can be difficult in the NWT.

Housing issues, the high cost of healthy food and other factors can limit a mother's ability to follow these guidelines.

"You're actually having to address many issues in the life of the young mother and families," Corriveau said. "The early childhood strategy can't succeed without work in other sectors."

Parents dealing with issues such as inadequate housing, unemployment and addiction contributes to many parents feeling like they aren't capable of providing for their children. The resulting anxiety is felt by every member of the family, Corriveau said.

"Poverty by itself is a huge stress," he said. "That's an issue that can't be addressed by the health system, but has a huge impact on health."

Tom Beaulieu, minister of Health and Social Services, agreed there are contributing factors that fall outside of the framework's mandate, such as housing.

"Good housing actually is proven to have a positive impacts on social determinants of the community," he said.

More than 1,000 NWT residents were on the waiting list for public housing as of November, 2011, according to a housing report published by Carleton University.

Beaulieu said other issues include the territory's high unemployment rate and addictions, such as alcoholism, which can result in babies born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

"Addictions is certainly one of the biggest challenges," he said. "It is critical that young ladies going through pregnancy not drink. That continues to be an issue, as it is across the country."

Lafferty said elders from across the territory gathered the week before the meeting to discuss their thoughts. Lafferty said elders were keen to share knowledge and help develop the framework.

"They all wanted to be part of the actual framework implementation," Lafferty said.

"We need those elders to be a part of the process."

Elders emphasized the important role culture and language plays in raising healthy children.

"Elders specifically talked about the importance of talking in their first language," he said.

Corriveau said elders also spoke about the residual effect residential schools still have on communities.

"We had elders who highlighted, for example, that there were no children in the communities because they had all been taken away," he said. "Culture, language - that's foundational for building a sense of identity and self confidence."

Elders also said parents should be encouraged to get involved in their children's school and extra-curricular activities, Lafferty said.

Beaulieu said the department's Healthy Family program, which provides home visits to new parents, will be expanded to more communities this spring. The program is scheduled to take place in some communities in the Sahtu region first, then in Fort McPherson and Inuvik at a later date.

Lafferty said looking at ways to deal with absenteeism was also at the forefront of discussions.

Participants learned that a child missing one or two days of school per week can add up to the equivalent of missing years of education, Lafferty said.

A 2011 report on the Aboriginal Student Achievement Education Plan stated that 64 per cent of all students in the territory are aboriginal. Aboriginal students miss an average of 41 school days every year. Other students missed less than half that number, the report stated.

Developing ways to promote attendance will be a priority, Lafferty said.

"Attendance obviously came up as a huge concern, especially in isolated communities," Lafferty said.

Corriveau said he believes the meeting was beneficial.

"We had a great time, people were energized," he said. "We have a lot of work to do to flesh out our strategy."

A draft plan for the updated Early Childhood Development Framework is scheduled to be tabled in the legislative assembly in

March.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.