Author: Madison Tailfeathers

For this assignment, I wanted to do something different by telling the story of a young boy who sparked the child-first initiative called Jordan’s Principle through my organizations social media instead of my own. You can see the short story video about Jordan on our organizations Facebook page here.

Jordan’s Principle is an initiative to ensure that all First Nations children have fair and equal access to health, social and education services as other children in Canada.

Jordan’s Story

Jordan was a young boy from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba born in 1999 with various disabilities. For example, he had a rare, genetic, muscular disorder called Carey-Fineman-Ziter Syndrome which includes facial weakness or paralysis, and a small or retracted chin among other symptoms that range from mild to severe.

Due to these health conditions, Jordan had to stay in the hospital for over two years and then the doctors approved Jordan to have in-home care. This is when a dispute started between the provincial and federal government about who was responsible for paying for Jordan’s care. Essentially, pointing fingers at each other without taking accountability.

Why was this a dispute???

• Status First Nations people have access to something called “Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB)” which is federally managed. These benefits help cover basic prescriptions, dental care, medical supplies and equipment, etc.
• Non-Status, Status First Nations and, non-Indigenous people also have their general healthcare (Hospital visits, doctors visits, etc.) managed provincially, for example, through Alberta Health Care.

Due to this dispute… Jordan was not able to stay in a real home with his loving family. Jordan stayed in the hospital unnecessarily for over two more years until he passed away in 2005 at the age of 5. Jordan’s mother also passed away six months later. It was a truly devastating time for their family.

Jordan’s Principle

Jordan’s life, his story and his family have sparked this child-first initiative intended to prevent any other First Nations children from falling through the cracks like this again. To ensure that jurisdictional disputes won’t interfere with a child’s ability to be home with their family and to have fair and equal access to social, health and education needs.

In Alberta, the First Nations Health Consortium helps families with submitting Jordan’s Principle requests to Indigenous Services Canada to ensure that First Nations children in our province are given fair and equitable treatment.

To learn more about Jordan River Anderson, his life, his family and Jordan’s Principle, I invite you to watch the documentary “Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger” by Alanis Obomsawin.

I had no idea what to live tweet about so I decided.. why not a walk with my dog?? It’s always an interesting time when we go on our adventures!

Find the link to see the full thread below:

Let’s go for a walk! Today, I’ll be bringing you along with me on my daily walk with my dog, Avy. It’s always an interesting adventure 😂#EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/gGVc6lSzHa

— Madison Tailfeathers (@madmadstf) March 13, 2023

To summarize, whenever I go on a walk with Avy, there is always a common sequence of events:

• Goofy dog zoomies
• Avy on a mission to find some birds
• Excitement once he finds a critter (spoiler: HE FOUND A RABBIT)
• Then cuddly naps and snacks when we get home.

Storytelling Principles Used

When doing this live tweet I tried to include some of the methods we’ve been taught so far. Such as, making sure it had a clear beginning, middle and end. I made sure that the subject was generally interesting to the readers (I mean.. dogs are the best!). And, I used photos and videos to make the reader really feel like they were on the journey along with us!

I hope you all enjoyed our walk as much as we did. Animals are just so good for the soul and I’m glad I was able to share a snippet of my life with all of you. ☺️

The movie, “Encanto“, is one of my favourite Disney movies that demonstrated a shift in Disney’s method of telling stories. Instead of the traditional “knight and shining armour” movies, they focused more on a complex family dynamic that demonstrated that our strengths can come in many different forms.

“You’re exactly what this family needs. You just need to see it.”

– Bruno

The Story Spine of Encanto

Once upon a time, the Madrigal family found a hidden, magical oasis town in the mountains of Colombia called “Encanto”. It is a vibrant community that thrived because everyone in the Madrigal family were given a gift by the magic of Encanto, except for Mirabel. Some of the gifts include controlling the weather, super strength, seeing into the future, food that heals and talking to animals.

Every day, the family uses their gifts to benefit the town in different ways and they’re all trying to make their grandmother, Alma, proud. By healing ailments, growing different foods and plants, lifting heavy things and foreseeing potentially dangerous situations.

But one day, Bruno, the one who can see into the future, saw that the magic of Encanto was falling apart and the whole family was losing their powers. His family vilified him for his visions and blamed him for the outcomes causing him to run away.

Because of that, Mirabel didn’t know about the prophecy but saw the house was cracking and her family started to have troubles with their gifts.

Because of that, she started to investigate why this was happening and discovered that she is the one who had to save the family.

Because of that, tensions rose and Alma snapped on Mirabel and blamed her for the magic falling apart.

Because of that, an argument broke out, causing the house to break and fall apart and the whole families magical powers were gone. Mirabel runs away in tears.

Until finally, Alma finds Mirabel by the river and admits the reason they lost their powers is because she pressured the family and lost sight that their family was the gift. Not the magic.

And ever since then, the family came together, even Bruno, to try to repair the house together and the town joins them in the effort. Mirabel places the last doorknob and the house comes back to life and the magic returns!

My Takeaways

• We shouldn’t take our loved ones for granted.
• Our strengths come in different forms, some may be more subtle than others but they are just as important.
• There’s a strong matriarchal theme throughout this movie and highlights important feminist ideals.
• I feel many people can relate to familial pressures to succeed and how damaging it can be if you feel like you’ve disappointed them in some way.

It’s a beautiful story that is relatable, has a lot of character development and is enjoyable for all ages. This movie inspires the viewer with love, empathy and bonding, a method that encourages people to connect to the story and it’s characters. I encourage everyone to watch it!