Health, Social & CFS

COUNCILLOR PORTFOLIO REPORT

FEBRUARY 2012

Aaniin to my fellow members! Im loving working for you and Im doing my best. Lots of people are telling me Im doing a good job and I wanted to say I deeply appreciate your support and guidance. You can call me at 382-2813 or the best is to email me at jjack@berensriver.ca. If you dont use the computer, just go to the Health Centre in Berens and ask any of the staff to email me for you! Im sure they will be glad to help you. Or, ask someone in your family. Im sure there is someone you know who uses the computer and its really the quickest way to get a hold of me. I check my email every day at least once and will answer you as quickly as I possibly can.

FEBRUARY 1 3 These three days I was in the office at the Health Centre and did office
work and worked with our Health Director on this years finances and next years budgeting for Health. Im also working with our Health Director Jackie Everett and Helen Boulanger, Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) Manager and her staff to move our AHS Program to the old Nursing Station building and there is a lot of paperwork and meetings involved in organizing that move. And, when Im in the office there are always many staffing issues where I work with our Health Director.

FEBRUARY 6 10 This week I went south on the Winter Road to attend the Assembly of
Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Meeting and left Berens with my vehicle full of members who needed a ride to Winnipeg for medical purposes. The AMC operates with Chiefs Committees or Task Forces and there is one for Health. Ive asked the Chief to put me on the AMC Chiefs Health Task Force and he has supported my request and that is in process. Being on this task force will mean that I am able to contribute at the provincial level and to make sure that Berens River is represented because we have the only fully transferred Health Centre in Manitoba! What that means is that we are responsible for everything at our Health Centre instead of the federal government. Jackie, our Health Director, will support my work on this Task Force as she knows the issues in and out and she will participate in the technicians working group so that we work as a team. I also took three Elders from Winnipeg to the AMC meeting because my vehicle was full leaving home. I used my own travel money to bring them with me. The Elders said they really enjoyed the meeting. Councillor George Green attended on behalf of the Chief and our First Nation as the official representative and he spoke well and strongly for us. The agenda items were mainly Health and I listened to the Chiefs discuss the issues and asked Councillor Green to tell the Manitoba Health Minister that we wanted a hospital in Berens River because we discussed this at Council table. For now, I am collecting all the information and I will be reporting more fully once I am involved in the AMC Chiefs Health Task Force. I would also like to hear from you directly about your health concerns so that Jackie and I can bring them forward to the provincial level. Please feel free to drop in and talk with Jackie or myself about any of your health concerns and you can always email me at jjack@berensriver.ca

FEBRUARY 13 17
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This week I was in the office on the 13 , attended court all day th th on the 14 , had our monthly Portfolio Staff Meeting on the 15 , was in the office on the 16 then th drove to Winnipeg for a Council Meeting on the 17 .

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Prepared by: Councillor Joan Jack

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I went to court on the 14 to support our community as we make up the entire court docket. I sat there all day and some of the staff from Health and Social were there as well. Its so unbelievable to me that most of our people were, in my opinion, in court because of trouble caused through substance abuse (alcohol/drugs/solvents). By the end of the day, I felt sure that if substances hadnt been involved, not one of the people I saw would have been charged and in court. Ive asked the Chief if I could take the lead in starting a Justice Committee here at home because we talked about it on Council and we need to step up together to make positive change for our future generations and for ourselves today. I know the other Councillors support positive change too and Im sure they will be involved; someone just needs to take the lead and I am willing since they are all busy in their areas and also since so much of the justice issues are related to health (substance abuse and the related violence is a mental health issue). Watch for the posting and please put your name forward to volunteer as a Justice Committee member! I am also creating a list of those reported to me by other members as substance sellers and will be providing that list to the RCMP because many of you have called me and saying that you want this chaos to stop. If someone names you and youre not selling, then you have nothing to worry about! The Portfolio Staff Meeting on the 15 went so well again, but we ran out of time! I talk too much! LOL So, next month (March 15), we are going to start right at 9 am sharp! All Health, Social and CFS staff are welcome! At the Council Meeting we continued to review our financial situation and the Finance Staff are working hard with Pam and Lorne to get everything up to date and we will be having an Audit Meeting soon. For me, I am still learning about our overall financial picture in Health, Social and CFS and am getting there as quickly as I can! Its a lot to learn! This was also the weekend of the SE Games and I went and cheered my hardest for three Berens River teams! I only made it to four games for three of our teams, but when I was there, I was heard supporting our amazing hockey players!
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FEBRUARY 20 24

I went to Vancouver at the invitation of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN0 National Chief to speak at the AFN National Justice Forum on Day Schools. The AFN paid for my expenses. There were three day schools here in Berens; the Mission, Across and the United Church. For more information go to www.joanjack.ca I know some people dont think I should keep doing this work, but it is important that we get justice for all of the people who were robbed of their culture in these day schools all over Canada including Berens River and Im not going to stop. I also collected a lot of information about Justice at this meeting that will be useful to us here at home.

FEBRUARY 27 29

Elder Henry McKay is a volunteer member of the CancerCare Manitoba First Nations, Inuit and Mtis Community Partnership Committee and he came to Berens River with a staff person from CancerCare to meet with Health because that organization offers services to those dealing with cancer. I will be working with Elder McKay on this issue because we have people from our community going through cancer and also who have survived cancer we will be in touch with you. On the 28 , I spoke at a Human Resource Conference in Winnipeg on Human Rights in Indian Country and that evening I took 8 of our students attending SE College to a movie and I used my th own money. Then, on the 29 I went into Stony Mountain Penitentiary for a meeting about working with our people when they are released from prison and will bring this to the Justice Committee when it is set up.
In closing, soon I am going to start having Health, Social & CFS community information and discussion meetings in the evenings and I hope you all come out and attend and share whats in your heart and on your minds. Finally, I appreciate the moose meet from Derek and Norman. I cut it up with my niece Laura and was able to pass on our culture as well as eat the good food God gave us from our own land!
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Prepared by: Councillor Joan Jack

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