Thunder Bay anti-violence campaign stretches beyond Ontario

Superior Morning7:48I Am A Kind Man

We'll hear about an anti-violence program started in Thunder Bay that is being rolled out in other parts of the country. Kizhaay Anishinaabe Niin. The goal is to help end violence against Aboriginal women and girls, by supporting Aboriginal men

A program started in Thunder Bay aimed at ending violence against indigenous women is expanding across Ontario — and moving into Alberta and British Columbia.

"I am a Kind Man" — or "Kizhay Anishinaabe Niin" in the Anishinaabemowin language — offers support to Aboriginal men, helps them reconnect with their culture and their traditional role in the community.

The executive director of the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, which oversees the program, said men and boys can either volunteer to go through the program, or they can be forced to go through it with a court order

"[It] helps men be educated about helping, how to use voices and feelings, how to create relationships that are based on truth and being honourable," Sylvia Maracle said.

The title, and much of the programming, comes from the late Peter O'Chiese. He was a respected elder, who taught about the responsibility of Aboriginal men and their traditional roles in family and community.

The program focuses on the role men and boys play in ending violence against Aboriginal women and girls.  It specifically focuses on the history of women's and men's roles in Indigenous cultures, trauma suffered by men in the past that contributes to loss of power, and how men can regain their cultural identity for stronger personal and community development.

7 Grandfather Teachings

The Ontario Women's Directorate is helping to fund the program expansion.

I am A Kind Man is available through five correctional facilities in Ontario, and through dozens of Native Friendship Centres across the province. Funding for the program will be dispersed over a three-year period.

The program rests on First Nations' Seven Grandfather Teachings:

• To cherish knowledge is to know wisdom;
• To know love is to know peace;
• To honour all of Creation is to have respect;
• Bravery is to face the foe with integrity;
• Honesty in facing a situation is to be brave;
• Humility is to know your self as a sacred part of Creation;
• Truth is to know all of these things.

"Kizhay is an answer [to] what kind of changes and systemic changes and community programs are needed to reduce the violence, and look to ... reconciliation of families and communities," Maracle said.

I am A Kind Man is currently being shared and rolled out through partnerships in Ontario, in Alberta with the Alberta Native Friendship Centre Association, and with First Nations' bands in British Columbia.