Actions sprouting from acknowledgement

A report from the Decolonizing Social Work committee

We began our collaboration as a working group, and blossomed into a committee in 2022; co-chairs Jacklyn Paul and Crystal Hill, RSW, came together with Mi’kmaw social workers and community leaders to begin to reflect upon how to support and guide the NSCSW and its members in beginning the necessary labour toward reconciliation. While still in formation, this committee has begun to identify a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to begin to decolonize the profession of social work; these will inform the structure and work plan that we are developing.

Our profession has a unique responsibility to understand what was done and do what we can to work toward decolonization. In its statement of apology and commitment to reconciliation the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) acknowledges its role in supporting the implementation of residential schools, and in affirming the approach to child welfare that led to the 60s scoop through the promotion of discriminatory policies. The underlying motivation in the development of these policies was to dispossess Indigenous peoples from their land. us.

The CASW has apologized for contributing to the injustices imposed on Indigenous peoples and, in this statement, seeks to highlight some of the ways in which the professional bodies they represent were – and in many ways still are – responsible for the systemic denial and inequality that has been apparent in the field of social work. As such, it has begun to reach out to Indigenous communities across Canada, to partner with them in beginning the work of decolonization and reconciliation.

The Nova Scotia College of Social Workers (NSCSW) joined with the CASW in this apology and continually affirms its commitment to do the necessary work called upon by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as that which has been clearly identified by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

In particular, the NSCSW acknowledges its role in the violent colonization of Indigenous communities through the ways in which social workers have worked on behalf of colonial systems to implement policies that have contributed to the destruction of Indigenous communities, and perpetuated the racist ideology implicit in those actions.

This recognition is done within a larger context where the NSCSW joins the CASW in re-examining our historical and continued role in colonization of Indigenous people and lands as part of our commitment to decolonize social work. We also continue working to address the multiple intersectional forms of racism, heteronormativity, prejudice and oppression that have accompanied the dominant lens of the colonizer and embedded themselves in policy and practice.

Specifically, the NSCSW council, committee and staff are committed to undertaking this journey toward decolonization. As stated in the CASW apology, acknowledging the truth is hard, but the work of reconciliation is harder.

This work requires that the paternalistic and racist foundations of our policies be rejected, and that new policies and guidelines be developed in partnership with Indigenous communities.

We are proud to have provided important input to several other NSCSW efforts, including other member committees. We offered the professional development committee our recommendation of the keynote speaker for our annual conference; Dr. Raven Sinclair will help our College begin to consider the ethics of allyship, and the ways that those of us from settler descent can join in the sacred work of decolonization and reconciliation. Members of this committee also consulted with the connections committee in its creation of a special June 2023 issue that will feature the decolonization of social work.

In 2022, we sent a cohort of committee members to the October conference of the Mi’kmaq Wolastoqiyik Association of Social Workers. This conference was powerful in many respects, as the committee members had an opportunity to meet in person and learn from many wonderful speakers, including keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, who spoke about his ground-breaking work in neurodecolonization. The wisdom shared and conversations since have deeply informed the advocacy efforts of the social justice committee, and will continue to shape the College’s work as it moves forward.

Drumming circle at the Mi’kmaq Wolastoqiyik Association of Social Workers’ 2022 conference

We recognize that this committee is just in its infancy, and we are grateful for the support of Council to ensure that this committee has the resources it needs to continue the deep dialogue and discernment necessary to develop the next steps for the College, the profession and indeed, for Mi’kma’ki itself.

2022 COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Gail Baikie, Kristen Basque, Craig Besaw, Suzanne Brooks, Robyn Hazard, Crystal Hill (co-chair), Leurette LaBobe, Michelle LeBrun, Jacklyn Paul (co-chair), Phillipa Pictou, Michelle Sutherland-Allan, Ann Sylliboy