RANKIN INLET
An innovative program developed in Canada could help a whole generation become a caring, peaceful and civil society.

Children learn how to help and care for others from a newborn baby and its mother during a Roots of Empathy program in Rankin Inlet this past week. - photo courtesy of Irene Way

Mental health nurse Irene Way launched the Roots of Empathy program in Rankin Inlet this school semester.

The program was developed by Newfoundland kindergarten teacher Mary Gordon.

Way said Gordon was looking for a more positive way of teaching children not to bully by teaching them how to practise empathy.

She said Gordon realized that mothers and babies are a true example of pure love and empathy by the way the mother (and father) interact with the baby.

"A baby is brought into a classroom for the kids to watch the first year of its life, the milestones of development, how the brain develops ,by the mom engaging with the baby, why the baby cries, the baby's temperament, and its intensity and sensitivity to its environment," said Way.

"The class will realize babies, too, have emotional highs and lows, and times when they're lonely and sad, and they see how a baby reacts in those situations.

"When children talk about emotions and tell stories of what happened to them, they unload some of their feelings and kids around them realize that happened to them, too.

"They might think they wet their pants overnight, too, and wonder how they can help a friend who does that."

Way said instead of bullying each other when accidents happen, the children are figuring out how they can support each other.

She said an example can be taken, such as one child hitting another in class, and explored for positive results.

"You can take that example and look at how that child feels and what we can do to make that person feel better.

"The circle grows around the child who has been hurt - 'Can you come to my house,' or 'Would you like something to eat or to drink?' - and the person who did the hitting is outside the circle.

"All the people who don't condone bullying are together, and they invite the person who did the bullying into the circle so they can learn how to make someone feel better instead of hurting them.

"It's not only that you don't bully, but, also, you stand together and don't condone bullying."

Way said Gordon's program has grown in popularity to the point where it's being used in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and many other places.

She said Nunavut is actually one of the last places to engage in the program.

"That's, maybe, because we don't have the supports here.

"Being from Manitoba and a Roots of Empathy teacher there, I affiliated with the Manitoba government to start a pilot project here.

"If we waited for franchises to move and programs to be approved, maybe, 10 years down the road, something would come.

"But, being an instructor, I can go in the school and teach the program now."

The pilot project is being delivered in Rankin for this school year.

Way said it makes no sense to sit idly by and wait for something to happen.

She said kids are hurting now, so she's going to do her best to help them.

"What happens next depends on the evidence we get from this program to prove that it does make a difference.

"There's a regional conference of teachers here in February, and we're going to present the program to them.

"Hopefully, as interest from teachers and evidence from classes with this program spreads across the North, other areas may be able to get pilot projects going with the provinces close to them.

"These programs in the south are run by public health, early childhood or early beginnings, which we don't really have here, and that lack of specialized programming is a big problem because we don't have the help we need for kids."

Way said if the program eventually makes a difference with kids in kindergarten to Grade 8, the next generation will be aware of child development and how parents can get frustrated and kids can get hurt.

She said that awareness could lead to less frustration as parents.

"It's not that anybody would ever want to hurt a baby, but children know how anywhere in the world, across all cultures, when people are frustrated, babies can get hurt.

"If we teach lots of lessons around empathy, then, maybe, when this generation grows up, it will feel differently about caring for each other, being proper citizens, being less condoning of anybody getting hurt and standing together to make a better tomorrow.

"Because we didn't have enough mothers and babies volunteering, we could only go to Grade 6 this year, but we hope to go farther next year if we get to do this again.

"My plan is to train local people as Roots of Empathy teachers to make it sustainable and ongoing, and to work towards developing the kind of community feeling that says we're in this together."

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