Saugeen man on hunger strike over FASD

Saugeen’s Paul Machimity is into the second week of his hunger strike to raise awareness about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
“I just want to bring out the FASD syndrome to make (it aware) to everybody,” said Machimity, who believes his six-year-old daughter has FASD. He said his daughter was taken into care by a two local child-care agencies in 2009 after being diagnosed with failure to thrive — a term used to describe children early in life who do not receive or are unable to take in or retain adequate nutrition to gain weight and grow as expected.
“The court granted Tikinagan (Child and Family Services) crown wardship,” Machimity said. “I’m allowed to see her, I think it’s three or four times a year I’m supposed to have been able to see her throughout those years, but I’ve only seen her twice.”
Machimity wants people to look at his daughter’s case and the failure to thrive diagnosis, noting he believes her condition was not assessed properly due to FASD not being recognized in Ontario.
“They were asking all sorts of questions about failure to thrive,” Machimity said. “If (FASD) is not recognized in Ontario, how is ... anyone going to get help. A lot of kids are just going to be taken from people that do care about them and look after them.”
Machimity said FASD is not officially recognized by the province of Ontario even though it has been recognized by the seven provinces and territories west of Ontario.
“It’s recognized in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, but nothing in Ontario,” Machimity said.
A Ministry of Children and Youth Services spokesperson said an Aboriginal FASD and Child Nutrition Program has been created in response to requests by Aboriginal leadership, noting the program is designed and delivered by Aboriginal organizations for Aboriginal families.
“The ministry will continue to work with agencies, families and partner ministries to co-ordinate services so that services help to meet the unique needs of children with FASD,” said Breanne Betts, media spokesperson with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, in an e-mail reply. “Our government is also working with First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Aboriginal partners to develop an Aboriginal Children and Youth strategy that is based on a joint vision, principles and distinct actions that seek to put children and youth first, enable Aboriginal led solutions, and build culturally appropriate and accessible supports.”
The USA Department of Health and Human Services states on a FASD web page that children with FASD are often initially diagnosed with failure to thrive, even though their actual condition is FASD.
The FAS toolkit developed by the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres states that failure to thrive and feeding difficulties, including disinterest in food and feeding taking hours, are symptoms of FASD in infants. The toolkit also states that disinterest in food is also a symptom in preschoolers.
Machimity wants to get his daughter back from the child care agencies and raise her in the traditional ways.
“I want her to learn the Native ways,” Machimity said.
Although Machimity had planned to travel back to his home community on the weekend to continue the hunger protest, he was still in Dryden on May 27.
“I’m eventually moving (the hunger strike) to Saugeen, where I am from, and I will sit there until I receive a letter in the mail saying something will be done about it,” Machimity said. “I’m just hoping people will stand up and say something.”
Machimity has been mainly drinking tea, coffee and water since he began the hunger strike on May 20.
“I’ve been watching my urine too,” Machimity said. “I’ll drink a lot of water if it starts turning really yellow. I’ll monitor myself that way.”
Machimity also consumed some chicken broth on the fifth day of the hunger strike.
“I don’t feel too bad, actually, right now,” Machimity said on May 27. “But I came for a bike ride from my sisters to my nephews here, and no more than a hundred feet (into the ride) I already started to feel my legs and I was feeling like I was getting out of breath already.”
Machimity visited a physician on May 21 after phoning Telehealth for advice about being on a hunger strike.
“They asked me if I was trying to harm myself in any way and I told them I was doing this for fetal alcohol syndrome,” Machimity said.
Machimity has lost about 16 pounds since beginning the hunger strike.
The Public Health Agency of Canada states that FASD is the leading known cause of preventable developmental disability among Canadians, with about one per cent of the Canadian population estimated to be affected.
Effects, including alcohol-related birth defects, vary from mild to severe and may include a range of physical, brain and central nervous system disabilities as well as cognitive, behavioural and emotional issues.
FASD cannot be cured and has lifelong impacts on individuals, their families and society.
Canada’s new Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines advise that there is no safe amount, and no safe time, to drink alcohol during pregnancy.