LETHBRIDGE – Kainaiwa Children’s Services Corporation celebrated a major milestone Tuesday.
For 20 years, the corporation has been helping youth in Standoff to become contributing members of the Blood Tribe community, while guiding them to overcoming life’s everyday struggles.
“There are struggles on the reserve,” said Kainaiwa Children’s Services Chair Marcel Weaselhead. “A lot of it has to go back to the residential school. Throughout the years a lot of our members have lost a lot of their parenting skills, because they have a lot of issues they had to deal with.”
Weaselhead believes the services have been successful over the past two decades due to the deeply rooted incorporation of Aboriginal culture and heritage.
“We’ve taken our values and traditional beliefs into the corporation,” said Weaselhead.
“We want to continue to utilize what we know, and provide that support for our members.”
Kainaiwa Children’s Services Corporation Official Connie Fox said the services begin with focusing on the children, by instilling in them important cultural values at a young age.
“It’s really talking about the well-being of our kids,” said Fox.
“Just bringing the kids back home and having a connection to family and community, that’s what our focus is.”
The Kainaiwa Children’s Services is made up of 79 full-time employees, and service an average of 500 families per year. Their hope is to be able to continue providing resources and support, for years to come.
“We’ve taken ownership of the programs and services, and that’s what is really important,” said Weaselhead.
“It’s all about us taking control of our own destiny.”
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