International Social Work Research Seminar
Historical Development of Indigenous Social Work and Evolving Practice
Models with a Focus on Social Policy and Indigenous Knowledge-Based Mental
Health Approaches in Canada

Comments from a Japanese researcher and member ofthe Buddhist Social Work Research Network
June 10, 2023 @ Japan Women’s University, Mejiro Campus(Room 12009, Hyaku-niju-nen-kan) and Zoom Webinar
Kana Matsuo
A member of the Japanese Society of the Study of Social Work and SeniorResearcher at ARIISW-Shukutoku University, Chiba Japan

FACTS: 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly
removed from their parents and communities between
1880 to the 1960s.

What did we
get to know?

FACTS: Indigenous people were dispossessed of

their property, culture, and spirituality. They were also
deprived of their identity and human rights within thecolonized society.

FACTS: The Government of Canada has addressed
past mistakes.

Continued…
• Discrimination, significant poverty, and mental healthissues still exist.
• Indigenous people play vital roles and embody initiatives tochange Canadian policy.
• It is clear that depriving people of their own language is toviolate their identity and dignity.
• Mental health care not rooted in people’s culture and life ispointless.
• Policies can eradicate peoples if they deprived them ofcommunicating in their own language.

As a Japanese social work researcher:• What about us? How do we view the Ainu people?
• They date back 20,000 years, when humans first started living on
Hokkaido Island.
• The linguistic connections with the Ainu can be seen in the Nihon Shoki
and other old documents from the 7th century.
• The Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act (Hokkaido Kyu-Dojin
Hogo Ho) was enacted in 1899.
• The Japanese government established Dojin gakko for Ainu children
and provided four years of education, prioritising Japanese language
learning.
Resource: Advisory Council for Future Ainu Policy. (July 2009). Final Report (Provisional Translation).retrieved
from https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ainusuishin/pdf/siryou1_en.pdf, 2023

Panel of Experts on Measures against Utari, (1997)• The report submitted by the Panel of Experts on Measures againstUtari (which was made up of by non-Ainu individuals):“[In the] present, the Ainu people live in the same manneras that of other Japanese constituent people’s… [co-optingboth] linguistic and cultural styles present in everyday
Japanese society.”(translated by commenters)

Souce: Utari taisaku no arikata ni kansuru yuushikisha kondankai. (April 1997). Houkokusho. Retrieved fromhttp://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000015022.pdf on June 5, 2023, (Japanese)…How do we view these events and reports?

Hokkaido Ainu Life Survey Report (2017)• Hokkaido has published eight (8) “Hokkaido Ainu Life SurveyReports” has been published since 1972.
• In a recent report (2017), Ainu people answered that the mostcritical areas which their local governments should focus on arethe "Ainu Language" (56.2%) and "Rites and festivals.” (48.6%)• As mentioned above, depriving people of their own language is
to violate their identity and dignity.
• The report does not yet mention the mental health or social
work needs present among the Ainu people.
Source: Hokkaido. Hokkaido Ainu seikatsu jittai chousa houkokusyo. (2017). Retrieved fromhttps://www.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp/fs/5/5/7/2/6/5/7/_/2%E5%B9%B3%E6%88%9029%E5%B9%B4%20%E5%8C%97%E6%B5%B7%E9%81%93%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8C%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB%E5%AE%9F%E6%85%8B%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%E6%9B%B8.pdf on June 5, 2023. (Japanese).

Questions toesteemed
presenters…

To Joyce Timpson sensei,
The history of child welfare authorities’ practice of separating
children from their families shows that social work can be an
oppressive act. This is also evident in Japan's response to theAinu people.
Social workers must recognize practical considerations toavoid creating and perpetuating oppressive in mental healthcare.

In Canada, do social workers share any hints to avoid social
work oppression in the practitioners’ on-the-job training?

To Sally Bunting sensei,• Traditionally, what is the role of Elders in North Spirit Lake?
• I imagine that the Elder would be different from the leadersof modern urban society. For example, do Elders have any
function to consult or to provide any social support/social
work when people in the community are in trouble leading
their lives?
• What are the strengths of a female Elder?

To Lydia Sherman sensei,• I am very interested in the "Medicine Wheel" and "Sphere"
frameworks.
• Are there any differences between the “Sphere” and themental health clinical staffs’ OJT? If any, could you provide
any significant point of views?

To Bunting sensei& Sherman sensei,• There were many things
that I had to consider in
relation to the people
involved in social work inJapan.
• Can “reconciliation” and“healing” be realized?

As a staff of the international social workresearch institute (ARIISW) (for your reference):• Few researchers question the Western-rooted social work
profession and its globalization.
• Buddhist Social Work Research Network, consisting of Asian
countries,* proposed the working definition of Buddhist
Social Work.
• The “Refined ABC Model of Indigenous Social Work” wasproposed by ARIISW in 2021.
*Bhutan, Cambodia, China, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka,Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan

The “Refined ABC Model of Indigenous Social Work

Add Indigenous elements

Indigenoussocial workC

Add WPSW elements

Adopted/Westerni
zed Indigenous
Social Work

B-C

Adopted/Indige
nised Westernrooted
Professional
Social Work

B-A

Western-rooted
Professional Social Work(WPSW) by Indigenouspeople

A

Source: T.Akimoto.(2020).Buddhist Social Work— Its Birth and Achievement to Date—And the contribution to the development of social work (The provision of the minimum information).In Gohori & Someya ed., Social
Work Academics Resisting the Globalization of Western-rooted Social Work: Decolonization, Indigenization Spirituality, and Buddhist Social Work.Proceeding Report. ARIISW. p.16

Thank you again for yourcontribution to the International
Social Work ResearchSeminar.

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