MANITOULIN—The wounds run deep, but so do the roots. Across the seven First Nations of Manitoulin Island, a quiet healing is underway—one built not in courtrooms, but in community health centres, ceremonial lodges and the steady drumbeat of powwow socials. Noojmowin Teg Health Centre, “A place of healing,” has launched a new initiative to support families navigating the Trout Creek child welfare settlement, a historic $23.34 billion compensation agreement addressing decades of discriminatory treatment in Canada’s First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS) program.
The final settlement agreement, approved by the Federal Court in October 2023, stems from a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling in 2019. It found that Canada’s underfunding of the FNCFS program—and its narrow interpretation of Jordan’s Principle—had caused irreparable harm to thousands of First Nations children and caregivers.
The Trout Creek component of the broader class action specifically compensates: Children who were removed from their families by child welfare authorities between April 1, 1991, and March 31, 2022, while living on-reserve or in the Yukon; children who experienced delays, denials, or gaps in accessing essential services due to Canada’s failure to uphold Jordan’s Principle (from April 1, 1991, to November 2, 2017); and certain caregivers, including parents and grandparents, of these children.
Applications for compensation—divided into the “Removed Child Class” and the “Removed Child Family Class”—are now open. But for many, applying means reopening old wounds.
“People will be re-traumatized by the Removed Child Family Claims process,” said Debbie Francis, director at Noojmowin Teg. “Individuals will want to apply for the basic amount and not reopen old memories of pain and suffering. Others need help with each step of their journey. It’s about meeting individuals where they’re at.”
To do that, Noojmowin Teg Health Centre has hired a team of trauma-informed Cultural Supports, blending Anishinaabe ways of knowing and being with western practices. Two Cultural Support Workers, Jacob Dayfox and Daniel Manitowabi have joined the team with a Nurse Navigator, Rebecca Dantouze.
The team will support individuals and their families, offering self-care, emotional, spiritual support and traditional healing practices.
That support goes beyond application forms. It means building trust, offering support with mental health and addictions, self-care, healing circles, ceremony, and the offering of Anishinaabemowin. The team plans to offer a model of trauma-informed care designed for both frontline workers and support to clients and their families.
“If you don’t work through the trauma, it becomes illness,” Ms. Francis told the Expositor. “Let’s work together to create a plan to help you take charge of your health and well-being and let go of the hurt that you do not need to carry or burden yourself with. That’s the path to wellness.”
Ms. Dantouze agrees. “The funding helps people with the application process, yes—but it’s also about reform and reconciliation. It’s about bringing families back together.”
The team is planning on a series of pow wow socials just ahead of each of the seven communities larger pow wows as way to build relationships with community members.
The first Powwow Social is taking place on the evening of Thursday, July 24, hosted at Noojmowin Teg Health Centre at 48 Hillside Road, Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation at 5:30 pm.
It’s designed to be a relaxed, welcoming gathering—a place to reconnect before the summer pow‑wows. Think drum circles, family-friendly dancing, smudge, and informational booths led by the outreach team, while supporting the settlement claims and application process.
“These events are fun and family-oriented, but they’re also about connection—spiritually, culturally, emotionally,”Ms. Dantouze said. “It’s a healing space where people can come socialize and maybe practice their dance steps.”
Still, there are limits to the settlement’s reach. The eligibility criteria strictly requiring that children were living on-reserve at the time or in the Yukon and placed in federally funded care. Off-reserve families and many survivors of provincial child welfare systems are excluded.
Some call it the “Millennial Scoop”—a continuation of the Sixties Scoop and residential schools under new names and policies. The Noojmowin Teg Health Centre team hopes their work can interrupt those cycles—not just through the claims process settlement and paperwork, but through presence, listening and supporting the clients, their families and First Nations communities.
“We will offer Anishinaabemowin lunch and learns, cultural teachings, social gatherings, access to traditional healers, knowledge keepers, mental health and addictions, primary care and health and wellness services in support of you and your healing journey,” said Ms. Francis. “You move between your family support circle, your professional support circle, and your community support circle. The individuals know best what they require and we’re here to provide those opportunities as a “path to healing.”
As families begin the work of trauma, remembering, reclaiming, and rebuilding, Ms. Francis is clear: this is a step and a path to assist members with connecting to health and local cultural and wellness services and resources. Contact Noojmowin Teg Health Centre at 705-368-0083.
