Editorial:The Legacy of a Child: Jordan’s Principle

Abstract

It has been said that a child shall lead the way. There are lessons to be learned from the smallest among us (Koptie & Wesley-Esquimaux, this issue). The learning from a child’s experience was a repeated key message at the “Caring Across the Boundaries” (CAB) conference held in Manitoba in late May 2009 (presentational material available on the web at: [http://www.fncaringsociety.org/ cab-conference/). The CAB conference and the majority of the articles that appear in this issue of the journal were initiated by the story of a toddler named Jordan (see Blackstock, 2008). Honoring the memory of Jordan was key to kicking off the CAB conference because through his experience we learned the price that many First Nations children pay ... unlike other other Canadian children born with complex medical needs, Jordan died before his needs could be addressed. Why? Because he was born to a First Nations family residing in a First Nation community! Jordan was an average child in some ways – loving teddy bears; yet, he was an extraordinary child in other ways – his little self incited a cry for social justice and ignited a posthumous movement to uphold human rights for all First Nations children through the creation of a child first principle called “Jordan’s Principle” (Blackstock, 2008).