BC Council for Families

by Marilee Peters
Acting Executive Director

In the spring of 2010 three women on Vancouver Island got together to discuss an issue they were becoming increasingly concerned about - the extent of poverty in their communities - and the conversation took a turn for the unexpected.

They started sharing their memories of their "aunties": women in their families, or their communities, who helped them when they were growing up.  "Our Aunties came to our homes to help with the laundry, bake bread and pies, help cook dinner, to sew our clothes - to hold us, to love us and spend time with us - to help raise us and make sure we were cared for." In the can-do spirit of the aunties, and in recognition of the important role of the aunty in many First Nations and Metis cultures, they decided that it was time to stop waiting for others to solve the problem of poverty in BC, and time to start remembering, as those aunties did, that we all have a collective responsibility to care for one another.

Aunty Poverty was born.  

Those three women (all aunties themselves) - Diana Elliot, Provincial Advisor for Aboriginal Infant Development Programs of BC, Joan Gignac, Executive Director of the Aboriginal Headstart Association of BC Joan Gignac , and Marcia Dawson, Provincial Aboriginal Manager for Success by Six -- are calling on men and women, aborignal and non-aboriginal, to join the Aunty Poverty movement and step up to help eradicate poverty in your own family, neighborhood, and community. What can you do?

• As Aunties we can help with Children&Parents - help a single mom, dad, parents, grandparents or caregiver in your family.
• As Aunties we can help a family in your neighbourhood, or community.
• As leaders, we can commit to addressing poverty in our program and service delivery plans/models
• As leaders, boards and councils we can put the issue of children&families on our meeting agenda with a commitment to address poverty
• Help Individuals&Seniors living in Poverty - many adults, seniors and Elders are living in Poverty, find ways to help with the needs of our adult population

While the three founding Aunties admit that aunties alone cannot solve the complex issues related to poverty, their call to action reminds us all that "If we can commit to supporting one child, a niece or a nephew, and if all aunties did this all across the province, think of all the children that would be supported"
 
For more information contact Diana Elliot at advisor@aidp.bc.ca and Joan Gignac at executivedirector@ahsabc.com or Marcia Dawson at marciadawson@shaw.ca. Or check out Indigenous Aunty-Poverty on facebook to connect with other aunties and  share ideas, stories and events about what you are doing individually as an Aunty or as a community of Aunties to help address poverty in your family, clan, nation, tribe, or community.