Non-profit to operate home for young moms in River Heights

A home in River Heights will soon be filled with Indigenous mothers and mothers-to-be receiving care and wraparound supports.

Come this summer, a six-bedroom home on Lindsay Street will provide three to six months of pre- and post-natal care and programs.

Hillary Thompson, an 18-year-old who is in her third trimester, has already picked her bedroom.

The spacious room on the main floor has plenty of space for her and a crib, and she can decorate it the way she wants. It’s a far cry from the homes she grew up in as a foster child, she said.

“While being in care, I suffered through a lot of traumas. My voice wasn’t heard,” she said at the news conference to announce the mothering centre. “I feel the new mothering center is an excellent idea for new moms like myself to have a safe, welcoming home with amazing support from aunties and kookums to help through this new journey of motherhood.”

The province provided $2.5 million for the project through Mino’Ayaawag Ikwewag, a $20-million provincial strategy to support Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

The women and gender equity committee in the department of families will work with Blue Thunderbird Family Care Inc. to guide the development of programs and provide supports.

Blue Thunderbird owns and will oversee operations of the home. The non-profit organization has several other facilities across the city that offer services such as family reunification and housing for at-risk youth.

Blue Thunderbird’s executive director Dana Arabe said for generations Indigenous mothers have had to parent under the weight of “scrutiny and fear” of child apprehension and the home will spark intergenerational change.

“They have been navigating systems that often separated families instead of supporting them, and because of that, babies have begun their lives without the safety of their mother’s arms or the grounding of their culture,” Arabe said.

The home can help to mitigate children’s involvement with Child and Family Services, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said.

Thompson agrees.

“Having a home like this will help change my family cycles and improve healthier cycles. I don’t have to worry about my daughter growing up like how I did, and have a better future,” she said.

Residents of the area say while there wasn’t any neighbourhood consultation about the project, they support it.

Elayna Murdock, who lives down the street, welcomes the space.

“There’s been a lot of discrimination towards First Nations people in the health-care system recently, and I think that we do need more supports that are safer for women,” she said.

The home will be staffed by Indigenous women and elders and offer wraparound supports, including doulas and midwives, cultural resources, mental health and addictions support and counselling and life-skills training.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca