Former sex workers fight stigma

Former sex workers fight stigma

Former sex workers fight stigma

Media Outlet: The Sudbury Star
Posted: Nov 27, 2013

Jen (not her real name) started working the streets at 12 years old. She was a Children’s Aid kid and did it to survive. When she turned 16, she moved out of foster care, found an apartment and got a job.

Society often views sex work as an identity, not an activity, and Jen argues many sex workers self-stigmatize.

“That category of sex worker is a master identity — it’s a permanent social identity,” she explains. “You’re viewed as a pariah, as damaged, as amoral. People feel comfortable treating you poorly, which reflects an awareness that organizations aren’t going to take up your rights or enforce them in the same way.”

A couple dozen concerned residents braved the snowy roads to gather at the Croatian Centre on Kathleen Street this week for a public forum on sex work. Organized by the Greater Sudbury Police, NOAH’s SPACE, the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth, the Corner Clinic and Shkagamik-kwe Health Centre, it pointed to the ongoing stigmatization of sex workers, which can deter women from accessing services or leaving the trade.

Think Before You Drink – Sudbury group cautions

Think Before You Drink – Sudbury group cautions

‘Think Before You Drink,’ Sudbury group cautions

Media Outlet: The Sudbury Star
Posted: Sep 10, 2013

Shelley MacKewn is a happy mother to two children. But she told a crowd assembled at Tom Davies Square she is also “physically, emotionally and financially” exhausted. Her seven-year-old daughter, whom she and her husband adopted at birth, has been diagnosed with partial fetal alcohol syndrome.

“It is not easy living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). It is not easy when it is invisible, when you see a lot of behaviour, when you see the dysmaturity,” MacKewn told the crowd.

“(But) I’m a happy mom. I have joy in my life. I have two beautiful children,” she added.

About 40 people associated with the Sudbury-Manitoulin FASD network gathered at Tom Davies Square on Monday to declare Sept. 9 FASD Awareness Day in Greater Sudbury.

Shkagamik-Kwe gets added boost

Shkagamik-Kwe gets added boost

Shkagamik-Kwe gets added boost

Media Outlet: The Sudbury Star
Posted: Oct 24, 2012

Angela Recollet, executive director of the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, makes a point during a funding announcement at the centre in Sudbury on Tuesday, October 23, 2012. Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci announced funding of $2.4 million for the centre.

 

International health workers visit First Nations centreInternational health workers visit First Nations centre

International health workers visit First Nations centreInternational health workers visit First Nations centre

International health workers visit First Nations centre

Media Outlet: The Sudbury Star
Posted: Oct 15, 2012

They came from around the world to learn first hand how First Nation health care in northeastern Ontario works.

During their visit to the Shkagamik- Kwe Health Centre on Applegrove Street Saturday afternoon, the 30 mostly young health-care professionals and students from countries such as India, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, and Nepal checked out a traditional medicine room where numerous plants such as sage and wild dandelion were stored or being dried for later processing, and were told that the centre uses the best Western health practises in combination with traditional medicines and healers.

In her address, to the group, Angela Recollet, the centre’s executive director, pointed out the four sacred plants — tobacco, sage, sweet grass and cedar — as well as the fact that bear fat is a key ingredient in a lot of Ojibwey medicines.

Healing journey

Healing journey

Healing journey

Media Outlet: The Sudbury Star
Posted: Feb 25, 2012

For Eric Nahwegahbow, Friday’s gathering had personal and professional significance.

Nahwegahbow was at the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre for the day-long Men’s Healing and Wellness Gathering, organized by the ShkagamikKwe Health Centre.

“I’m not working right now … but I work in addictions and (mental health) … so this extra information is useful, too,” he said.

He started working with people with these issues because of his own difficult past, he added, choosing not to elaborate.

“The culture in working with First Nations people … I’ve been helped, and I wanted to give back and also help, too.”

The gathering, organized by the health centre’s Men’s Victim Support Program, featured guest speakers Rosalee Tizya, a trauma facilitator/elder and Herb Nabigon, a Laurentian University professor.

The Men’s Victim Support Program is run through the Ontario Victim Services Secretariat, a division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The program addresses the need for services for aboriginal men who experienced sexual abuse as a child.