Retired Joan Kirton Dedicated Her Life to Helping Others

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Retired Joan Kirton Dedicated Her Life to Helping Others
COMMUNITYSOCIAL WORKRACISM
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Joan Kirton, a recently retired social worker, spent her career supporting youth and later Black seniors in Montreal. She faced racism and challenges but remained dedicated to her work, helping families and individuals overcome various obstacles.

Recently retired, Joan Kirton devoted her career to supporting youth and, later on, Black seniors. When Joan Kirton was around 13 years old, she would ignite her mother's irritation, taking fabric from her sister — a dressmaker — to craft clothes for children in need across the parish of Saint-Michael in Barbados. 'My mom said, 'One day, you're going to give away your whole face and you're going to have nothing left,' said Kirton with a smile.

At 21, she arrived in Montreal, where she spent years supporting Caribbean newcomers to adjust to their new life in Canada. And in 1987, when she was 40 years old, she graduated from a special care counselling program and began working at Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, after a teacher encouraged her to join the team.Over the years, Kirton worked with youth aged 18 months to 18 years, offering help to families facing challenges that required intervention.'You work with the teenagers, you see progress,' said Kirton.'My mom would say, 'You never listen. You don't listen. You have a hard head',' said Kirton. Kirton's mother, Ursula Kirton, used to tell her that she had a hard head when she was younger. Kirton sought to offer unwavering gentleness, but says she also, at times, had to walk through fire, enduring the trials that came with the beauty of her work. She was subjected to several racist remarks from some of the mothers and grandmothers of the youth in her care, she explains. Kirton recalls the story of a girl whose mother refused to communicate with her because of her skin colour. 'Her mom said, 'I don't want to talk to you,' so I said, 'You don't have to talk to me, just listen to me,' and she listened,' said Kirton. 'And for Christmas, she bought me the biggest gift'

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