WIIKWEMKOONG—Kina Gbezhgomi Child and Family Services (KGCFC) has received the Greater Sudbury Police Service (GSPS) Community Partnership Award. The award was presented May 17 as the GSPS hosted its 2023 Community and Police Awards Gala at the Caruso Club in Sudbury. The event provides the GSPS with the opportunity to honour police service members, community partners and community members who have demonstrated leadership during incidents that required immediate intervention. They also recognize those who have supported initiatives dedicated to enhancing community safety and well-being.
“KGCFS would like to recognize team member Lyle Peltier, who led the KGCFS participating at the annual ‘Mooz Akinonmaaget Maa Aki’ moose camp and Denise Morrow, executive director who accepted the award on behalf of the agency. We would also like to recognize other KGCFS cultural team members Jim Fox and Tammie Assinewai who assisted with the 2021 and 2022 moose hunts,” a release explains.
Mr. Peltier told The Expositor, “it’s been an honour and privilege to be part of this great experience for our youth, and I am grateful that the agency became an active and contributing partner with the GSPS and other partnering child and family services, the Ministry of Natural Resources and involved school boards since its inception moving forward, with the next launching in the next few weeks.”
“One of the goals of Constable Darrell Rivers (GSPS) was to build positive relationships between Indigenous youth and law enforcement and the Mooz Akinonmaaget Maa Aki program has demonstrated success by the way the youth-officer-mentor interaction develops over the period of learning together at the seven grandfather teachings surrounding a moose harvest,” continued Mr. Peltier.
Mr. Peltier is the KGCFS team lead in the Mooz Akinonmaaget Maa Aki moose hunt initiative alongside Darryl Rivers, GSPS Indigenous liaison officer and KGCFS’s cultural department. “This program is a partnership between GSPS, Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, Niijaansinaanik Child and Family Services, Nogdawindamin Family and Community Services, KGCFS, Children’s Aid Society of Sudbury and Manitoulin District, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. The goal of this initiative, currently in its third year, is to build stronger relationships between indigenous youth and GSPS through mutual respect, cultural awareness, and inclusivity.”
The program is designed to promote the physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental wellbeing of indigenous youth. Each of the 8-10 sessions involved youth learning with their non-indigenous police partner/mentor about cultural teachings and grandfather teachings in relation to a moose harvest. This successful mentorship occurs over a weekend in the fall, designed based on the traditional and Anishinabek values through the Seven Grandfather teachings. The program supports youth with various activities such as hunting education, firearms safety, first aid, tactical demonstrations and cultural teachings.
Moving forward is a legacy component, where previous year’s participants are encouraged to re-attend one session where they’ve harvested a moose and in return plant a tree and provide guidance and mentorship to new participants, the release explains. The youth that are eligible and participate in the program also earn two high school credits upon completion.
