"Heritage Gives Native Kids Better Sense of Identity, Conference Speaker Says"

OHSWEKEN - Native children living with non-native families need to learn their culture in order to be successful, says a Mohawk woman living in Fort Erie.

Joan Barton spoke to about 30 people gathered for the Youth are the Keepers of the past conference at J.C. Hill school on Friday.

She has been working with the Niagara Native Children's program for four years, helping native children who have been separated from their communities learn about their heritage and their identity.

"It's our responsibility to reach out to these children who are struggling" in a non-native foster home or with an adoptive family, said the 58-year-old grandmother.

Though her parents grew up on the Six Nations reserve, they moved to the city before Ms. Barton was born. She spent 10 years as a native court worker in Fort Erie, and began to realize the consequences of native children losing their cultural identity.

Many of the young adults she saw in the courts had grown up with non-native families, who were unable to teach them about their culture.

As a result, said Ms. Barton, many were exposed only to negative images of native people. "They seemed to equate being native with drunkenness, with alcohol abuse, and with poverty, so they denied what they were."

For most of the youths, it was impossible to become full members of the non-native society, but they had already rejected their native heritage. Belonging nowhere, many took to the streets and eventually ended up in conflict with the law.

Ms. Barton decided something needed to be done. With a $1,500 grant from the Niagara chapter of the Ontario Native Women's Association, she set up a support group for the native children and their non-native families.

The group meets regularly, to discuss native culture, see films involving native people, and learn native crafts.

Slowly, things have started to change. The kids started to say they felt good about being native. They were even able to share their feelings with other family members who had attended the sessions and who were also learning about native people.

"Families tell us that they see change, that a child who was very withdrawn now wants to talk about being Indian," said Ms. Barton.

Now, four years into the program, the group has almost tripled in size, serving about 48 native youths between the ages of five and 18.

The program receives $80,000 a year from bingo proceeds in Fort Erie. That money has enabled the group to send children to summer camp with their siblings to learn native culture.

Ms. Barton says it's time for others to set up their own programs. "I know how many children are out there with white families," she said.

"Unless you get to the heart of it, you start to nurture these children cuultrally, there's no hope.

Kate Powless, who works for the Iroquoian Institute which sponsored the two-day conference which ends today, said Ms. Barton's message was important to bring to this community.

"I think it's needed in this area, because there's a lot of native children out there who don't even know they're native," said Ms. Powless.