Healing of the Seven Generations opening Indigenous-led child care program in Cambridge

A child holds an adult's hand in this undated stock photo. (Pixabay/Pexels.com)

A new Indigenous-led child care program is set to open in Cambridge early next year.

In a news release on Friday, the Region of Waterloo said Healing of the Seven Generations will be opening the community’s first Indigenous-led licensed child care program called Ga'nigǫhi:yo Indigenous Child Care and Family Centre. It will be at 30 Christopher Drive.

They said the program will have space for up to 65 children between the ages of zero and four-years-old and will focus on holistic and accessible programming responding to the needs of Indigenous children and their families.

The release said Healing of The Sevens Generations approached the region with the idea.

“Ga'nigǫhi:yo Indigenous Child Care and Family Centre is a vision rooted in our responsibility to heal the next seven generations,” Donna Dubie, Executive Director of Healing of the Seven Generations, said in the release. “It’s an act of reclamation and resurgence, a way to restore what was stolen through residential schools and colonization. By nurturing our children, we honor them as sacred gifts who carry the wisdom of our ancestors and the potential to teach us. They are not only our future but our greatest teachers, guiding us all towards healing and transformation. Through them, we have an opportunity to awaken our spirts and reignite the fire of our blood memory.”

The centre is set to open in early 2025.