An authority on early childhood development made a stop in La Ronge on Wednesday as part of a tour of northern Saskatchewan communities.
Dr. Jean Clinton is a child psychiatrist and an Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Clinton says the trip has been an opportunity for her to share her research on brain development, but it has also been a learning experience:
“To learn more about the knowledge and wisdom of First Nations people around raising children and parenting children, and seeing how what I know about the brain development, is now proving and showing what the elders have been teaching us for generations upon generations.”
Clinton adds that efforts are currently underway to make much of this knowledge available online:
“There is a northern Saskatchewan website that is being developed, and an online resource that we built on Ontario called “healthybabyhealthybrain” where there is lots of really great information.”
Clinton’s northern tour is sponsored by the Northern Early Years Coalition.
She is scheduled to visit Sandy Bay today and Creighton on Friday.