The opening of Vancouver Island's groundbreaking Indigenous-specific trauma-informed daycare centre was celebrated at a special ceremony on Oct. 25.
First opened in September, the Hulitan Early Years Centre in Colwood offers 48 free childcare spaces to Indigenous families across the Capital Regional District.
Funded by the Aboriginal Head Start Association of British Columbia, the centre has 24 spaces for infants and toddlers, and 24 for children ages three to five.
The demand for the service is high, says Kendra Gage, executive director of Hulitan Family & Community Services Society.
“We're changing the trajectory of intergenerational trauma,” she said about the centre, the first of its kind on the Island. “It’s a place where we know our kids are gonna be able to grow, feel nurtured and loved, and then go into the school system, feeling safe in that system because they know who they are and where they come from.”
For the newly opened daycare centre, a trauma-informed approach to childcare means adapting to the child's needs, rather than trying to change their behaviour.
“We're not asking the children to fit into our world, we're gonna pivot for them,” said Gage.
And it appears to be working, with staff reporting the children have settled into a routine much faster than they have experienced before, says Gage.
“We have kids that don't want to leave, they actually cry going home because they don't want to leave,” she says.
At the grand opening of the daycare centre, representatives from a number of stakeholders involved in the project, including the City of Colwood, the Ministry of Education and the Sooke School District, were in attendance, alongside staff members, families and First Nations matriarchs and chiefs.
“Nothing we do in life is done as an individual," said Gage in her opening speech. "It’s done as a community, as a group and as a collective.”
“And if it wasn't for all the generosity, kindness and people that came together to make this centre happen, it wouldn't have happened.”
During the ceremony, the Sooke School District was thanked for donating the land to the project, and for leasing the building for $1 a year, for the next 15 years.
“Which means all the money goes to the kids,” said Gage.
The generosity of the City of Colwood was also noted, for providing a grant contribution amounting to $311,667.
“For me, this is one of those rare occasions where we see the importance and great value of connecting the past to the present for the benefit of the future,” said Coun. Ian Ward on behalf of the city.
“A successful future depends on our ability to understand and accept the hard truths of our history book, personal history, as well as collectively," he continued. "To listen to each other's experiences and perspectives and learn from them to work together with humility, openness and respect.
"Ensuring our children grow up, not just learning about truth and reconciliation, but witnessing it in action so that they're rooted in the history and culture of the land we live on, the water that surrounds us, and the people who have been stewards of this land for centuries.”
But it was the words of Brianna Bear, a member of the Songhees First Nation, invited to give the welcome to the territory at the event, which resonated most with the room packed full of supporters.
“Time and time again, we share that our children are our future and that it takes a community to raise a child,” said Bear. “When we raise children with the trauma-informed lens, it means so much more, because we're trying to not only pass on the healing to our children, but also the teachings.”
"I think it's really important …that we teach our children from a young age, we share the songs, we share the language as much as we can,” she continued.
