Sask Jordan's Principle Information Sessions Wrap Up

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We are currently wrapping up the Saskatchewan Jordan’s Principle project as we have attended our last planned information session on May 16^th in Fort Qu’Appelle.  As we begin to prepare a brief report summarizing the number of participants, the different sectors represented and the analytics of the surveys, we feel this project has achieved its objectives in getting the word out about Jordan’s Principle and providing another resource for service providers in assisting First Nations families and children.

We are learning through the statistics provided by Indigenous Service Canada from their call center and First Nations Insurable Health Benefits (Saskatchewan region) that the number of calls, inquiries, and applications have greatly increased since March.  The information sessions across Saskatchewan commenced this year in March.  It is not entirely certain whether this could be directly correlated to the information sessions being conducted throughout Saskatchewan (and the attendees sharing the information with others), however, it may have played an important part in these results.

We held Jordan’s Principle information sessions in Black Lake, Meadow Lake, North Battleford, Saskatoon, Spiritwood, Prince Albert, Nipawin, La Ronge, Regina, Yorkton, Punnichy, Ochapowace First Nations, and Fort Qu’Appelle.   We held two sessions in a few of our locations and had four sessions in Saskatoon which came to twenty-two sessions in total.  We had over 780 participants which is a significant number in only a few short months.

There were several requests for information sessions to be conducted in other communities or organizations that work with First Nations children and families.  The presenters (Randine, Wendy and Maureen) at the sessions were from Indigenous Services Canada and they had to balance their in-office duties with being out in communities doing presentations.  Although our contract with ISC ends June 8^th, Indigenous Services Canada will try to fulfill these requests after summer.

We are grateful for having this opportunity to partner with Indigenous Services Canada in delivering the exciting message that there is a stream of funding that can assist First Nations children who are experiencing gaps in services or finding challenges in accessing services that are otherwise accessible to other Canadian children.  The Jordan’s Principle Advisory Steering Committee was verbal in the importance of supporting and utilizing best practices that meet the needs of First Nations children whether those needs are health, education and social.  We want to thank our Jordan’s Principle Advisory Steering Committee for their support, guidance, and feedback in the planning of the Saskatchewan Jordan’s Principle Information Session Project.

We thank all those who all attended as well as completing the surveys.  The information that was collected through the surveys added value to our report and helped us determine whether the objectives of the project were met.

We look forward to hearing more about the expansion of Jordan’s Principle and how it will be coordinated and implemented attaining the highest quality of life for our First Nations children and youth.

Written by Treena Wynes