The recipient of the Canadian Association of Social Workers Distinguished Service Award for 2018 is Lyla Andrew MSW, RSW.
Lyla grew up in Toronto and graduated with a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Toronto in 1977. After graduation, she was keen to pursue a path where she would be challenged and grow. This led her to accept a two-year placement position with Frontier College working with the women in the Innu Community of Sheshatshui, Labrador to establish a day care. This decision to move to Sheshatshui in 1977 changed the course of Lyla’s personal and professional life. When she arrived, she was committed to genuinely listening and learning about the Innu culture and felt privileged to have this opportunity. She came to love the Innu way of sharing with neighbours and the strong sense of commitment to one another. She met an Innu man who would become her husband and together they raised four children. For the past forty years Lyla has committed her personal and professional life to working side by side with members of this community. She has witnessed the pure joy when people go to Nutshimit (out on the land) and the transformation which occurs with the opportunity to do so.
Throughout her social work career, Lyla has worked with both the government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Innu Government. She was employed as a social worker with the Department of Social Services in Sheshatshui and Davis Inlet. She held various positions with both the Innu Nation and the Sheshatshui Innu First Nation including Assistant to the President and mentor to the Health Commission Director. For a decade, she was the Regional Director and Zone Manager with the Child, Youth and Family Services Program. Lyla was involved with the transition of child welfare services from the Labrador Grenfell Healthy Authority to the Department of Child Youth and Family Services (later the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development). During this time, she worked on many initiatives to keep children safe and protected while doing everything possible to keep children in their home communities. Since 2015, Lyla has been the Child, Youth and Family Services Community Liaison Social Worker with the Innu Round Table Secretariat. In her current role, she is part of a team working towards devolution of child welfare services from the provincial government to the Innu Nation.
Lyla has challenged non-Innu systems to utilize a lens which acknowledges differences and focuses on access to services which are culturally based. She advocates for equal treatment and protection from the injustices the Innu have experienced. She has participated in many forums to improve working relationships and to explain how legislation, policy and practices can be improved. Lyla has volunteered with the NL Association of Social Workers. Most recently she was instrumental in the development of the NLASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice (2016). This document is built on the foundation that social workers have an ethical responsibility to demonstrate cultural awareness and sensitivity while enhancing competence to work with people from diverse cultures.
Lyla Andrew exemplifies the values of the social work profession. This award recognizes her commitment to sharing her knowledge, skills and abilities in a way which is respectful and makes a difference. Social workers in this province extend our congratulations and best wishes.