From crossroads to a path forward
NISICHAWAYASIHK CREE NATION — Two years ago, Felix Walker was at a crossroads.
Walker has worked with the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) Family and Community Wellness Centre for more than 24 years, now serving as its CEO.
Located in NCN, which is based in Nelson House in northern Manitoba, the Wellness Centre serves both as a gathering space and a hub for locals to access a broad range of health and wellness services. This includes health care, early childhood education, counselling and community support programs.
BRETT NICHOLLS / FREE PRESS
Felix Walker, CEO of the NCN Family & Community Wellness Centre, poses in front of the boardroom. Walker has been involved with the Wellness Centre for more than 20 years.
But with the looming construction of a new health facility on the reserve, Walker became uncertain about the future of the centre.
It was while confiding in Dr. Patricia Makosis — a renowned Indigenous author and public speaker from Saddle Lake, Alta. — that Walker recognized the path forward.
'Imagine a 25-year-old who was totally raised in the culture of your nation,' she said to him. 'What characteristics would that person have?'
He took the question to his staff, and they came back with what he referred to as the 'road map of an almost perfect human being.'
'(This person) knew their language. They knew who their relatives were. They knew their extended families. They knew how to take care of themselves. They knew how to take care of others and they knew what the relationship was around them with nature, the physical environment, the emotional and spiritual environments,' Walker said.
His goal from that point on became clear: to develop a child and young-person strategy. The centre would evolve to help nurture people like that in their own community.
NCN has a population of about 4,500 people, and is located 88 kilometres north of Thompson — the largest city in northern Manitoba.
Gathering spaces are few, and the streets are often quiet. Local residents can face difficulties in accessing certain essential services. The wellness centre helps fill the gap of a dedicated community centre, which the remote community has lacked.
'I have to believe the wellness centre, because of its uniqueness, is why people are here,' said family-enhancement supervisor Edith Moody.
'They're drawn to be here,' she said. 'And I think the energy is pretty good in here, that you're welcome. It's almost like, 'Come on, come to my house,' you know?'
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The new NCN health facility will offer health, dental and pharmacy care under one roof.
Visitors stop to pet dogs lounging by the doors and, once inside, are likely to notice the imposing buffalo head mounted on the wall as well as many portraits of former chiefs. Laughter echoes through the hallways as community members exchange greetings, moving through the space with purpose.
When Walker started as director of health-related services at the centre in 2001, it was operating with a $1.5-million budget and a staff of 40. It is now composed of six branches across Manitoba, growing to nearly 400 employees and working with an operating budget of $48 million.
'The environment is welcoming. It's warm, it's available. You can go to anybody's office door, knock and they will take the time to try and help you with whatever you need,' said Lynda Wright, director of health.
Big changes are on the way.
With a new health facility set to be built on the reserve by 2028, Walker said the wellness centre soon expects to shift its focus. The new 35,200-sq.-ft. NCN health centre will include health, dental and pharmacy care as well as emergency services and community programming all under one roof.
As a result, most health-related services currently under the umbrella of the wellness centre will be moved to the new health facility and be splintered off from its other programming.
Walker said the wellness centre will soon become mainly focused on ensuring the well-being of young people in the community by leaning into its child and family services (CFS) programs, as well as its child and young-person strategy.
He said he and his staff aim to promote a holistic approach, weaving cultural practices together with land-based education that will include community-focused activities such as sweat lodges, medicine picking, fish and moose harvesting, and cultural events.
The wellness centre is frequented by a broad swathe of the community. Last year, there were 9,750 staff encounters, and 1,928 clients sought health services.
BRETT NICHOLLS / FREE PRESS
The site of the planned NCN Health Centre. The new facility will be built by 2028.
'It'll be a loss to the organization and the camaraderie that we've developed over time. It's just another series of us looking at ourselves in the mirror and changing to meet the needs and dynamics of the community,' Walker said.
People in NCN stand to benefit from some of the new health centre's services. The nursing station on the reserve is currently staffed by only four rotating nurses. There is no access to dialysis and dental service is limited.
Residents often drive an hour east to Thompson for medical services.
'Many people don't have vehicles. There's so many people falling through the cracks,' said Wright.
In the fall, the wellness centre will launch a program to help 25 residents attain nursing diplomas, an effort aimed at addressing staffing gaps and shortages in the area.
The impending move to the new health facility is weighing on Moody, who has been working at the wellness centre for more than 20 years.
'For me, personally, when we learned of the new centre… I was really upset,' she said. 'I think it's going to make it harder for the community to access programming, because we're centred right in the community. When you come in, you get health, you get child and family services, you get all sorts of programming… It's still a sore subject for me, but we will continue. We'll just look a little bit different.'
Charlene Kobliski, a resource worker with the centre's CFS department, said the welcoming nature of the facility helped her reconnect with her cultural heritage.
'It was only recently that, because of the wellness centre, I started allowing myself to connect with prayers and ceremony and smudge and medicines,' she said.
BRETT NICHOLLS / FREE PRESS
Edith Moody is the family-enhancement supervisor at the NCN Family and Community Wellness Centre.
'It's super important because it allows for me not only to be able to bring it to the community, but it keeps that tradition alive for my kids.'
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According to Walker, the 'almost perfect human being' that he was referring to actually does exist.
'In every Indigenous community, they're there. They're just waiting to be asked. It's your grandparents, it's your great uncle, it's your great aunt,' he said.
But poverty, generational trauma and disconnection from cultural traditions have made them less visible. By focusing its efforts on young people in the community, the centre hopes to make a difference for future generations.
'Hopefully, at some point, we're in a better position to thrive,' Walker said. 'And those histories a lot of us have experienced, those would become a distant memory. They would become stuff of legend. And we're going to use the internal programs and structures we currently have to start laying the foundation for us getting there.'
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
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