All people in Canada have treaty rights and responsibilities. Those who have settler, arrivant and refugee origins are challenged to collectively work towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and communities.
Even as we reckon with our profession’s role in residential schools and other colonial projects designed to displace, dispossess and disempower Indigenous peoples, social workers are also embedded in communities that are grappling with their own roles in the great and necessary labour of reconciliation.
As many Nova Scotian fishing communities struggle through conflict and crisis — worsened by the intersections of a pandemic, economic uncertainty, and racism — we encourage our members to approach this work with a trauma-informed lens, to draw on the resources available to you, and to ground your praxis in your professional values and ethics.
We are confident in your desire to rise to these challenges, and to help your communities do the same. Let us know how we can support you.
Thank you so much for posting this. As a registered Mikmaw social worker whom is about to work in my own community after working many years in others , this is a heartfelt reminder of where we’ve grown from and the promise of a better tomorrow. If there’s anything I can ever do to be of help please reach out.
Thanks