Canada discriminates against children on reserves, tribunal rules

On-reserve child welfare system receives up to 38% less funding than elsewhere

CBC News Posted: Jan 26, 2016 9:03

Reaction to tribunal's decision on reserve children LIVE 11:59:59

This gathering at Parliament Hill was for the annual youth-led Have a Heart Day in 2012. On Tuesday, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled the federal government discriminates against First Nation children on reserves by failing to provide child welfare services equal to those elsewhere. (First Nations Caring Society)

The federal government discriminates against First Nation children on reserves by failing to provide the same level of child welfare services that exist elsewhere, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations and Family Caring Society, along with the Assembly of First Nations, filed a complaint against Ottawa with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in February 2007.

They argued the support the federal government provides for child welfare on reserves is much lower than the support provincial governments give to children off reserves – even though on-reserve needs are greater. Less funding for family support means more children end up in the child welfare system, they said.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal agreed, according to a decision published Tuesday morning that says the federal government's funding model and management of its First Nations child and family services "resulted in denials of services and created various adverse impacts for many First Nations children and families living on reserves."

The decision says the government must "cease the discriminatory practice and take measures to redress and prevent it." It calls for the redesign of the child welfare system and its funding model, urging the use of experts to ensure First Nations are given culturally appropriate services.

The decision also compares on-reserve child welfare to the residential schools system, where "the fate and future of many First Nations children is still being determined by the government." It recommends increasing funding and support to allow First Nations to deliver their own child welfare.

"I can't even believe we had to file a case against the Canadian government so First Nations children have the same chance to grow up in their families as other kids get," Blackstock said, before the decision was made public.

"I'm still shocked by that, even nine years later." 

In a news release, the Canadian Human Rights Commission applauded the tribunal's ruling.
"This historic decision could have a profound impact on how the government of Canada funds other on-reserve programs and services," wrote Marie-Claude Landry, chief commissioner of the human rights commission.

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Related Stories

• Human rights tribunal to rule whether Canada discriminated against First Nations children on reserves
• Aboriginal activist claims vindication in $20,000 ruling against feds
• Justice Murray Sinclair calls for change in child welfare system

External Links

• First Nations Child & Family Caring Society

WA #NDN tribe gain full control on Child Welfare matters

Port Gamble S'Klallam Obtain Full Control Over Child Welfare Matters

Posted on March 29, 2012

After a decade-long effort in conjunction with the federal and state departments of Health and Human Services, the state Attorney General's Office, and tribal lawyers, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe has achieved a landmark goal -- complete control over the welfare of their own children. The 1,000-member Tribe in western Washington became the first in the nation to assume all control of guardianships, foster care, and adoptions for their children. Under an agreement with the federal government, the Tribe has disengaged the oversight by DSHS and is now solely responsible for its child-welfare cases.
The contemporary practice of removing Native American children from reservations in child-welfare cases has been likened to the infamous boarding-school era, when the federal government forcibly placed Native children in state or religious institutions to “assimilate” them into “American” culture.
To break away from this system, Port Gamble S'Klallam's children and families coordinator Jolene George has spent years working with DSHS to draft policies on how they would handle child-welfare protocols, which are listed under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. "We will no longer lose our children," George said. "We didn't do this with a grant. We put our efforts, our money and whatever we could to do this."
Francine Swift, a member of the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribal Council, said it's vital to have children stay on the reservation so they don't forget their ancestry and traditions. She said that before the Indian Child Welfare Act, children were adopted out and lost complete contact with their relatives, ancestors, and culture. "We never want to see our kids go through this again," Swift said.

 

http://www.nativelegalupdate.com/admin/trackback/274803

 

 

This is one excellent example of tribes in action - and it is happening in more states! Happy Dance!

Trace

NEW REPORT: Child welfare statistics eye-opening (Canada)

Windspeaker photo

Windspeaker

By Jennifer Ashawasegai Birchbark Writer  - TORONTO

Volume:  29  Issue:  6  Year:  2011

Ontario wants to improve its child welfare services for Aboriginal children. So, the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services hired former Anishinabek Nation Grand Council John Beaucage as Aboriginal advisor to the minister of children and youth.

In his capacity as advisor, Beaucage wrote a report on Aboriginal child welfare in the province.

Beaucage said that through his research he found “more and more money is being spent on child and family services, but the success is not growing at all, and it really begs a different way of looking at things.”
He said his report addresses that and also serves as a tool to provide different ideas for the ministry and in respect to Aboriginal children.

The report is entitled: Children First, The Aboriginal Advisor’s Report on the status of Aboriginal Child Welfare in Ontario. Beaucage spent a lot of time speaking with community members, frontline workers and officials involved in child welfare in the province.
In the introduction of the report, Beaucage notes his surprise at the issues he came across during his research.
“I knew there were issues, but some of the data was eye opening: for one, there are a disproportionate number of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system.”
Data from the Statistics Canada 2006 Census indicates Aboriginal people make up about two per cent of the provincial population. But, Beaucage says, in the child welfare system, it’s estimated Aboriginal children make up 10 per cent of those in care, and some estimates are even higher at 20 per cent.
The system has many effects on Aboriginal children who end up in foster care.
“Children are being fostered out and in many instances to non-Native homes, and being taken out of their community, and so they’re losing touch with their family, culture, language and once again, it’s a process of assimilation, to assimilate a Native child into the greater society,” Beaucage said.
"That leaves holes in a person’s psyche. Young people are just losing touch.
“We saw it with the 60’s scoop, and also with residential schools that when the children are being taken away from their home environment, having their language torn away from them, and their culture torn away, there’s something that’s missing and they spend the rest of their lives looking for it.”
Because of that, Beacage said social issues arise from those situations, such as addictions.
The report includes a long list of recommendations to try to prevent social issues and loss of culture.
Beaucage strongly recommends culture as a base for Aboriginal children in care, and he says, “we should start seeing more Native people on the boards of Children’s Aid Societies and look at ways for Aboriginal organizations to take control of the child protection asset within their regions.”
There are 14 major recommendations in the report, from implementing Jordan’s Principle, to prevention strategies, to First Nation jurisdiction over child welfare matters and implementing customary care practices.
Laurel Broten, minster for Children and Youth Services in Ontario, has committed herself to bettering service to Aboriginal children and families. Broten supports the report from Beaucage, saying that the ministry has already made investments over the past year.
“In the child welfare sector, we’ve been ensuring that we are able to support the unique needs of Aboriginal children. We’ve provided $124 million to the six Aboriginal child welfare agencies in the province each year.”
To address the rate of Aboriginal children going into non-Native homes, Beaucage recommends that CAS use a different system of rating to utilize extended family customary care practices. “The rating system currently rates a household based upon an urban non-Native way of doing things, and it messes up the way things are done culturally. In the report, I suggest there be a totally different way of looking at a household and doing it by way of culture.”
Also included among the recommendations is a call for government to re-institute the band representative program to ensure families have a liaison between the courts and the CAS.
Urban families are not forgotten. Beaucage recommends that a task force for urban Aboriginal children be created to “review the state of Aboriginal children in care and off reserve and make specific recommendations on their best interests.”
It’s hoped the report will continue to gather steam, as an election is around the bend. Broten is also hoping for re-election in her Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding.
“The ministry is examining all of the recommendations and how it can build upon many of the inter-ministerial collaborations that we have in place as we seek to move forward. It’s certainly an active file and folks are very much absorbing the very thoughtful recommendations from the report and we’ll be asking Ontarians on Oct. 6 to be able to continue this important work.”

SOURCE: http://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/child-welfare-statistic-eye-opening-says-beaucage