Through extensive engagement sessions, LFMO is focusing on quality improvements in a number of IELCC areas, including Métis-specific best practices, understanding service barriers, and determining what defines quality care.
This project supports LFMO in policy discussions and decisions related to IELCC and Métis women and their children, and fulfills components of the 2020-25 Strategic Plan related to IELCC, including:
- Supporting efforts to ensure that the needs of Métis children and youth in care, are met when implementing the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit And Métis Children, Youth and Families;
- Advocating to ensure Jordan’s Principle is available to and meets the expressed needs of Métis children, regardless of status, so that no child’s life is at risk due to political and jurisdictional issues; and
- Supporting LFMO in Métis-specific GBA+ approaches to early learning and child care, and highlighting best practices in culturally relevant IELCC.
Providing advocacy and information to the federal government on Métis-specific IELCC from a gendered perspective is critical to ensuring Métis-specific IELCC programs are accessible and culturally safe for Métis families and communities. Through this project, LFMO will facilitate communications and raise awareness with Métis women about the federal IELCC framework, support the Métis Women’s Policy Forum, and develop a Métis Women’s Resource Toolkit on IELCC.
The Métis Women’s Resource Toolkit on IELCC will provide access to Métis-specific resources, including historical and cultural artifacts, and books and digital resources about the health, wellbeing, and spiritual, social, educational, linguistic and cultural development of Métis children.
A related early learning project is LFMO’s Pathways project, which brings together government representatives, subject matter experts, and Métis women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Métis to discuss Métis-specific IELCC needs, data and programming gaps, and best practices.
Building Pathways ensures that Métis-specific IELCC is prioritized at Women’s Forums and Annual General Meetings, so that collective knowledge information and advocacy can be provided to inform the federal government’s IELCC framework.
