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TREES Network
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Home Visiting

Through regular in-home activities and workshops grounded in cultural knowledge, Visitors support meaningful relationships between children and their caregivers. Nurturing care helps children become resilient and culturally grounded. Consistent and responsive caregiving routines teach children to see themselves through the loving eyes of their caregivers and to feel secure and confident in themselves and their environment.

Tara Green, Early Years Program Manager explains what home visiting looks like in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

The Early Years team in Rankin uses a combination of home visits as well as visits at our Early Years space. Due to overcrowded homes, there are some mothers who prefer to have their visits at our space. We also have a drop-in every Friday where ladies are free to drop into our space to visit with any of our Visitors and socialize with other mothers and their babies. We also utilize the drop-in days by inviting content specialist to talk to our mothers. So far, we have had a lactation consultant come multiple times, and the public health team come talk about childhood immunizations. For our group gatherings we have done sewing and cooking as well.

Melissa Puff, a member of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, is an Early Years Visitor who was also a program participant in Maskwacis, Alberta. She explains how the program focuses on relationships in order to model culturally relevant care for mothers like herself.

Not only is Melissa a Visitor, but when she became pregnant with her baby boy, she also signed up as an Early Years participant. Throughout her maternity leave, Melissa had the support of  a dedicated Early Years Visitor. Being on the receiving end of home visits allowed her to get a different perspective on the program she delivers. “When she goes through the Toolbox with me, I’m connecting to my own experiences with my baby and where he’s at and how he’s growing and learning,” she says. Through the program, she has been able to support her baby’s development while exposing him to Cree language, traditional knowledge, and his broader community.

As her maternity leave drew to a close, Melissa prepared to settle back into her role as an Early Years Visitor. She knows that after her experience of having a child, nothing will feel the same. Not only will she return transformed by the experience of becoming a mother again at a different stage of her life, but she returns equipped with having been supported by the program.  “In the past, we used to raise each other’s children, we fed each other’s children, we provided for the whole community,” she reflects. “I think if we keep teaching that, it will get back to where it began. We as a community would be so much more successful if everyone worked together and returned to our cultural and traditional ways.”

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MARTIN FAMILY INITIATIVE © 2022. THIS MATERIAL IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND OTHER LAWS. 

Photography by Louise Johns, Jamie Griffiths, Cathie Archbould, Matthew Perrin, Josie Rain and Alex Jacobs-blum; Videography by Red River College, Jamie Griffiths, Cathie Archbould, Sean Stiller, Pardeep Sooch and Catherine Martin

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The Training & Resources for Early Education & Schools (TREES) Network is a space for delivering and accessing culturally appropriate training, professional development, resources, communities of practice and mentorship opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous early learning professionals working with Indigenous children and families.

By coming together across communities, organizations and cultures, we can impact the bigger picture of Indigenous early education, child assessment and policy in Canada, so that Indigenous children will grow up proud of their culture and knowing that they belong.

The vision of the TREES Network is for early learning professionals to feel supported through training, resources and connections with others. The TREES Network strives to support early learning professionals to ground Indigenous children in their culture, nurturing stronger communities.

ACCESS TRAINING

The TREES Network supports access to culturally appropriate training and professional development for early learning professionals through the Understanding the Early Years course and Early Years Toolbox workshops. View upcoming trainings and workshops for your community through the Events Calendar.

EXPLORE RESOURCES

The TREES Network supports access to the Early Years Toolbox website, as well as access to accompanying resources through the Early Learning Library. Your access to resources is determined by your organization or community affiliation. Explore the Featured Partners page to view resources created by and in collaboration with Early Years partners.

CONNECT WITH OTHERS

To promote relationship-building and relational learning, the TREES Network provides opportunities for early learning professionals to build connections across the country. You can check out the Events Calendar to find events related to the early years, view the Interactive Map of early years services in different regions, or learn more about Supportive Circles as spaces to come together with others locally or across communities to share thoughts, ideas and support.

CREATE IMPACT

The TREES Network strives to create spaces through which we can collectively impact the bigger picture of Indigenous early learning in Canada. Learn about how Early Years sites are doing this through Early Years approach innovations, and about the important work many other organizations are doing to influence policy, curriculum, access to funding supports and program evaluation.