Mi’kmaq social worker to receive national award |
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INDIAN BROOK — Some might disagree, but Joan Glode says she never accomplished anything on her own.
At least, that’s how she explains becoming a recipient of this year’s National Aboriginal Achievement Awards for public service.
"This award is about the team of workers here: It’s not just for me; it’s about the work we do," said Ms. Glode, who was founding president of the Micmac Native Friendship Centre and founding director of Mik’maw Family and Children’s Services of Nova Scotia.
The team Ms. Glode refers to includes the social workers and staff members who work in offices and shelters in Indian Brook, Millbrook, Eskasoni and Waycobah.
"I guess it all started in about 1975 when I was going into the Micmac Native Friendship Centre one morning," she said during an interview in her office Tuesday.
"I was putting the key in the lock and there were two kids sitting in the doorway."
"I took them in and made some tea and one of the kids said to me, ‘I grew up in foster care but I think I came from a certain native community — can you tell me who I am?’ " she recalled.
"These kids didn’t know who they were; they couldn’t speak their own language, didn’t know their traditions because they were in foster care outside their own community."
The idea behind the creation of a community-based children’s service came from a need to address that need.
Mindful of the generational damage wrought by the Indian residential school system, Ms. Glode nevertheless believes there is hope for the future.
"We have to concentrate on how we spread the hope, the joy and the laughter of our culture and bring up our kids in a good way," she said.
"We have to provide alternative arrangements for some children and we have to provide support to the families, because most of the time the problem isn’t about abuse; it’s about poverty and a lack of resources or knowledge."
Ms. Glode said she has been blessed with inspiring mentors all her life.
"Every day of my mother’s life she devoted to her children, and she was determined we would be educated and learn to look after ourselves," she said.
One of her main sources of inspiration was the late Noel Doucette, former Chapel Island chief and one of the founders of the Union of Nova Scotia Indians.
"He was a good, peaceful man who wanted to make sure things were done right for everyone," she said.
Ms. Glode is considered something of a pioneer. She was the first native person in the Atlantic region to earn a master’s degree in social work from the Maritime School of Social Work.
She and 13 others will receive their awards from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation at a gala event in Winnipeg on Friday. The event will be televised on Global TV and APTN at a later date.
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 Source: TheChronicleHerald.ca
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page last updated on 10.03.2009
