TODAY: Native America Calling

Monday, September 20, 2021 – ICWA: Federal protections for children under constant legal pressure

September 20, 2021 By Art Hughes 

Host: Rebecca Nagle

The Indian Child Welfare Act has been upheld in dozens of court decisions as a vital federal protection for Native adoptees and foster children. That string of wins ended when a Texas district court judge ruled the more than 40-year-old law unconstitutional. A subsequent federal appeals court agreed that at least parts of ICWA are unconstitutional.  Long considered by legal experts as the gold standard of adoption law, ICWA faces its most significant legal challenge. We’ll examine how we got here and who is behind the legal efforts to dismantle ICWA.

Guests:

Matthew Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians) - law professor at Michigan State University’s college of law and author of the “Turtle Talk” blog

Sandy Whitehawk (Sicangu Lakota) – Elder in Residence at the ICWA Law Center

Shana King (citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) – parent advocate at the ICWA Law Center

CLICK TO LISTEN

Break 1 music: Tapwe Oma (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

Break 2 music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album)

 

‘This Land’ podcast unravels complexity of child welfare in Indian Country in its second season

Sixteen judges on the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a split decision in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. The lawsuit charges that the law is racially based and unconstitutional because it is biased against non-Native families seeking to adopt. The 8-8 split decision largely means that portions of the ruling would apply only to cases in the Fifth Circuit district, which includes Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, and would not directly affect ICWA cases in Alaska. (Creative Commons photo by David Schexnaydre/via Flickr)

 

By Tripp Crouse • KNBA NEWS

The award-winning podcast “This Land” returns for a second season. This one examines the legal attacks on a 40-plus-year old federal law meant to protect Native children in the U.S. 

The first season of “This Land” examined two legal cases that became incredibly important to criminal jurisdiction and recognizing Tribal land. Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle is the host.  LINK

Rebecca Nagle (courtesy photo)

“The podcast is about cases that are important to federal Indian law and Indigenous sovereignty that I felt like needed to be covered more.” 

Two cases pitted state jurisdiction over Tribal jurisdiction in Oklahoma, where the Creek people were forced to relocate from the Southeast during the Trails of Tears in the 1800s. They signed another treaty with the federal government in 1856.  

Oklahoma never really recognized the Mvskoke (Muscogee) Nation reservation. 

“Oklahoma's main argument was, ‘we haven't recognized these reservations in over a century. And so you can't possibly ask us to recognize them.’ Now, there was no real legal argument behind that. It was just this kind of thing of, well, eastern Oklahoma can't possibly be a reservation.”

Eventually, those cases went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the decisions re-affirmed the Mvskoke still had a reservation in eastern Oklahoma -- and in turn, jurisdiction over its lands and Tribal sovereignty. It also reaffirmed the Tribal land of four other Tribes in the area: The Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw and the Seminoles.

But it’s still a huge legal mess. Oklahoma continues to challenge the Supreme Court decision. 

Nagle pivoted from that story to another legal battle that’s been brewing over the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA. That’s a federal law passed in 1978 intended to prevent the removal of Native children from their families and communities.

Before ICWA, the federal government was adopting Native children out of their communities to white families. 

“The federal government under the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) had this program called the Indian Adoption Project, where it was literally trying to take Native kids and put them up for adoption, for them to be adopted by white families,” Nagle said. “There was just deep racial bias within (the) child welfare system. So social workers were seeing Native kids being raised by an aunt or being raised by a grandma. But because they weren't being raised by the biological parent, that was child abandonment.” 

The Association on American Indian Affairs published a report that said between 1941 and 1967 as many as one-third of Native children were separated from their families. 

“And so it was a crisis -- about a third of Native kids were gone,” Nagle said. “You talk to Elders and people from that time and they'll talk about how there were communities, Native communities, where there just weren't kids.” 

The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978. 

“It was really created under this time where white homes were seen as being inherently better than Native homes. And it's this remedial measure to stop that racism in the system.”

ICWA requires that when child welfare workers consider the adoption of Native children -- they must first consider the family, the Tribe or Tribes, or at the very least another Native home. 

The law applies to Native children who are enrolled members of their Tribe or Tribes -- or are eligible for enrollment.

A years-long challenge to ICWA began brewing when a Texas couple, the Brackeens, fostering a Native toddler, were told they couldn’t adopt the child. 

“The child welfare department there in Texas and also the child welfare departments of Cherokee Nation, Navajo Nation, were looking for a permanent home for the child,” Nagle said. “Navajo Nation found a Navajo home, and because of ICWA, that's where the child was going to go. But then the Brackeens sued. And the way that they tell it is that ICWA was threatening to tear their family apart and that they were told they couldn't raise this child because he was Native and they were not. And so it was unfair to them and it was also unfair to the child, and that's unconstitutional.”

The Brackeens took their case to state court and then to federal court, until a split en banc decision in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals -- ruled that in this case ICWA was constitutional in parts, but it wasn’t in others. 

But that decision really only affects court cases in the 5th Circuit -- which covers the federal judicial district in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

“I think that the actual story of the custody cases show why there's still a deep bias in the system against our families -- against Native families and especially Native families who are struggling with poverty or homelessness or other issues,” Nagle said. “The system really doesn't view those families, at least in these cases, as favorably as white families and as families that have more money.” 

Nagle says podcast producers interviewed one grandmother, who helped raise a grandchild before she went into foster care.

The grandmother fought for three years to be considered as a placement for the grandchild -- and then she had to fight the non-Native foster family before she was finally able to adopt the grandchild.

"She had spent six years total fighting first the system and then this foster family to be able to adopt her grandchild," Nagle said. "If that bias hadn't been in the system, she wouldn't have had to go through all that, but also her grandchild wouldn't have had to go through all of that. 

Nagle said a lot of work went into producing this second season of the podcast. 

“I would say making podcasts is hard and I like to think that I'm learning and getting better at it,” Nagle said. “This season it was a story that we really had to uncover. And so we had to do a ton of legwork, one to just get our hands on the details of these custody cases and then two to really find out like what is going on behind this attack on ICWA.” 

Nagle says that the team sent 60 Freedom of Information Act requests during the reporting process.  But it has made a difference in the reporting and thoroughness -- in comparison with some mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, The Atlantic or NPR.

“I can look at those articles, especially the Atlantic article, and find factual inaccuracies and also just sort of and we also found factual inaccuracies within federal court documents and things that have been filed, a story that's been told to federal court,” Nagle said. “And so it became really, really, really important for us to get to the truth and to get to a well documented truth. And that that was a lot of legwork.”

Nagle says within the ICWA cases are broader implications -- like Tribal sovereignty and the rights of Tribes. 

“We need to think about the safety and well-being of our children. We also need to think about the legal status of Tribes that this case is attacking the heart of it,” Nagle said. “If you are worried about that, if you care about Indigenous rights in this country, this is a case to be paying attention to.”

Episodes of “This Land” season 2 drop every Monday through October 4. 

Province acknowledges Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30) #OrangeShirtDay

James Snell | Sep 03, 2021  • Join the conversation

Krystyne Hastings ties an orange ribbon to a post at a memorial to the 215 children killed at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., at the Oodena Circle at the Forks in Winnipeg, on Sunday, May 30, 2021. Photo by KEVIN KING /Winnipeg Sun

The province (Manitoba) has decided to acknowledge and observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) on Sept. 30.

Observance of the holiday, which will see Manitoba public schools closed and non-essential public servants off work, will advance reconciliation, and allow residents time to reflect on the residential school experiences of First Nations, Métis and Inuit, Alan Lagimodiere, Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations Minister announced Friday.

“We all have a role to play in reconciliation,” he said in a statement. “We can all listen, learn, and support the healing needed to address the intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system. Reflecting on our tragic history by recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an opportunity for Manitobans to learn about the ongoing legacy of residential schools.”

The NDTR was instituted as a federal statutory holiday in June by the federal government in recognition of Indigenous families and communities harmed by Canada’s residential schools, which existed up to 1996.

“Thanks to the hard work of survivors, who pushed for the recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a provincial holiday, Manitobans can have the chance to learn, grow, and move toward reconciliation,” provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew said in a statement on Friday. “In 2017, I introduced a bill to recognize this day in Manitoba, which was one step, and our NDP team has been honoured to work alongside survivors and communities who pushed the PCs to take this latest step.”

Katherine Legrange, director of 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada, said the provincial recognition is a good first step. She said real reconciliation can only come with the truth.

“We encourage all Manitobans to take this day to learn the truth behind the terrible IRS (Indian Residential Schools), Day Schools, and Sixties Scoop policies of the federal and provincial governments that continue to affect our families today,” she said in a statement. “We encourage the minister to engage with survivors with lived experience in amending Wab Kinew’s 2017 Bill for Orange Shirt Day to acknowledge this day as a general holiday in Manitoba, and support our healing, going forward.”

Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said on Friday his organization appreciates the province’s decision.

“There are some provinces that will not be observing the national holiday,” he said. “We all look forward to September 30 and paying our respect to the former IRS students and helping this government to move forward on the path to reconciliation with First Nations in Manitoba.”

Sept. 30 will also see flags on all provincial government buildings lowered to half-mast in observance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Nova Scotia also said Friday that it will recognize the day. British Columbia and the Northwest Territories have already indicated they will observe the day.

Utah reconciling history with Indian Residential Schools

 

A single building stands on the grounds that once contained an Indigenous boarding school, Aug. 26, 2021, in Panguitch, Utah. There are six known boarding schools within Utah, with the largest one located near Brigham City. The school in Panguitch primarily housed Utah Paiutes and Kaibab Paiutes Native Americans and this school operated from 1904 to 1909. (Chris Caldwell/The Spectrum via AP)

(excerpt)

The Indian Student Placement Program was sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was run from 1947 to 2000. This program started in 1947 but didn’t get sponsored by the church until 1954, according to the church. The program had missionaries approach Native American families and offer to have their children move in with an LDS foster family during the school year and return for the summer.

A 1976 document from the church identifies the objective of the Indian Student Placement Program as “to provide Lamanite children with educational, spiritual, social, and cultural opportunities that would contribute to their leadership development.”

Lamanite is a term from the Book of Mormon which refers to a group of people that settled in the Americas from Israel but turned their back on the Gospel and were cursed with dark skin. The church believed it had a mandate to help the Lamanites and convert them.

The president of the LDS Church at the time that document was released was Spencer W. Kimball, a staunch advocate for LDS outreach to Native Americans who described this program as an “inspiration from the Lord.”

In total, the Indian Student Placement Program placed 50,000 Native American children in homes that were in good standing within the LDS church, as reported by the Atlantic. These kids had to be baptized before entering the program with some instances of the children having wet hair from their baptism when they were introduced to their host family.

In 2018, the LDS church settled a lawsuit with members of the Navajo Nation that alleged they were sexually abused while in this program. The terms of the settlement were confidential and included no admission of wrongdoing by the church.

This was just one of many Native American assimilation efforts that were taken in the 20th century. In total there were over 489 residential schools in the U.S. and Canada, with the last residential school on the continent being shut down in 1996, according to the Union of Ontario Indians.

Assimilation programs in the 20th century didn’t just target Native American children. Another main policy was called “termination” which was a policy meant to terminate federal recognition and supervision of Native American Tribes and take more of their land.

The U.S. enacted termination policies in 1953, removing Indigenous people from their land. The land was sold and the people were relocated into urban areas and were promised good jobs. However, when Native Americans were relocated to cities the work was often less than rewarding, many felt out of place, and the housing offered was often sub-par.

Termination policy was led by Utah Sen. Arthur Watkins, who sold this policy was a way to stop Native Americans from being “wards of the government.” In a 1957 article written by Watkins, he argued that termination policies should be enacted by the government “as rapidly as possible.”

In total, termination policies enacted across the country took somewhere between 1.3 million to 2.5 million acres of land from Native Americans and more than 12,000 people lost tribal affiliation.

This termination policy worked poorly, with around 50% of relocated Native Americans deciding to return to reservations. These policies were phased out during the ’60s and during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Indian Civil Rights Act which called for the end of termination and instead allows tribes to self-determine their futures.

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Native American Pastor Seeks White House Apology for Historic Abuses

Cecily Hilleary |  September 06, 2021 VOICE OF AMERICA

FILE - Children pose in an unidentified Indian boarding school in Minnesota, ca. 1900.

WASHINGTON - Almost every important piece of U.S. legislation contains at least one completely unrelated provision, embedded either as a favor to lawmakers or because it couldn’t pass as a standalone law. 

As it was with the 2010 defense appropriations act, H.R. 3326 (now, Public Law 111-118), which contained America’s first apology to Native Americans for historic policies of assimilation and forced removal. 

The bill, which passed in the Senate on December 19, 2009, and was signed by then-President Barack Obama the same day, recognizes the legal and political relationship between the U.S. and tribes, acknowledges “years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants,” and apologizes for violence, maltreatment and neglect.

A U.S. apology for historic wrongs against Native Americans was embedded deep within a defense spending bill passed December 19, 2009.

“The apology covered pretty much what it needed to cover,” said Dr. Negiel Bigpond, a fourth-generation Christian pastor and member of the Euchee (Yuchi) tribe, which was forced into absorption by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in the late 19th century. For years, he worked with then-Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas to get a joint resolution of apology through Congress. 

KEEP READING (with videos)

 

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Indian Boarding Schools: One Woman's Tragic, Triumphant Story

"When I did have children, I didn't know how to raise them."

 

Archive

Native Americans File Lawsuit Against Boarding School Abuses - 2003-08-10

For more than a century, from the late 1870s to the early 1970s, the U.S. government forcibly took thousands of Native American children from reservations and sent them to federal or religious boarding schools. At that time, supporters of the policy said these institutions would help Indians assimilate into mainstream American society, while later critics charged that the schools tried to eradicate the Indian culture by suppressing traditional languages and customs.

 

Crimes against children at residential school: The truth about St. Anne's

Former residential school child-care workers say they wish the school had never existed...

Nancy Dyson and Dan Rubenstein worked at St. Michael's Indian Residential School on Vancouver Island in 1970 as child-care workers. They say after speaking out about neglect and abuse at the school to federal authorities they were fired the next day.

#MMIWG: Dateline

As we have posted on MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN and GIRLS on this blog here, here, please watch this episode of DATELINE:   HERE

By Dateline NBC

In August 2016, Carla Yellow Bird disappeared. She suddenly stopped texting and calling, and that didn’t sit right with her mother, Loretta, and sister, Kerry.

So they reported Carla missing to the Mandan Police Department in North Dakota.

Carla’s roommate said that she may have gone to a town called Saint Michaels on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota, the day she stopped communicating.

Spirit Lake is a reservation that spans 400 square miles, and it’s located about three hours northeast of Mandan, where Carla lived.

Lissa Yellow Bird has dedicated herself to searching for missing and murdered Native American women. This time, she would be helping to find out what happened to her own niece.

And the information provided by Carla’s roommate, gave her somewhere to start…

Lissa and many others believe that, too often, the cases of Indigenous women are ignored. Lynnette Grey Bull, activist and founder of Not Our Native Daughters, agrees. Lynnette describes her organization and why the MMIW movement hits close to home. READ MORE

 You can watch on Peacock TV as well.

The podcast version of the full episode is also available.

 AND use the search bar for more on this topic: #MMIWG and MISSING AND MURDERED

My earlier research:

#MMIWG Crisis: Missing, but not forgotten, art exhibit

Minnesota is one of only seven states to have established a task force to study the prevalence of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“Bring Her Home: Stolen Daughters of Turtle Island” opened earlier this year at All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis, and is now on display at the Fargo Public Library.

GREAT LISTEN: Missing, but not forgotten: Fargo library art exhibit tells story of missing indigenous women | MPR News

Walkthrough of the MMIW art exhibit “Bring Her Home: Stolen Daughters of Turtle Island” from Unicorn Riot on Vimeo.

Read More: unicornriot.ninja/2019/a-walk-through-of-bring-her-home-stolen-daughters-of-turtle-island/

MMIWG on my other blog

Over 1.5 million Native women have experienced violence, including sexual violence, in their lifetime according to the National Institute of Justice. Native women experience violence of twice the rate of women in the U.S. and on some reservations, the murder rate of Native women is 10 times the national average. In 2016, 5,712 cases of missing Native women nationwide were reported to the National Crime Information Center. Only 116 of them were logged in the U.S. Department of Justice’s missing persons database, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.

READ: The Crisis Of Murdered And Missing Indigenous Women And Why Tribes Need The Power To Address It – The Appeal

 

 

Sixties Scoop survivor finds sister, only to lose her again

Nakuset wrote her story in the anthology STOLEN GENERATIONS

Podcasts: Crooked, This Land

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The Lawsuit About the Indian Child Welfare Act That Isn’t About the Children

In This Episode

Fellow Crookedian Rebecca Nagle joins to talk about Season Two of “This Land.” From the “boarding schools” of the 19th century to the good intentions of the Indian Child Welfare Act — and the big money campaign to repeal it.

podcast link

excerpt:

Ana Marie Cox: What you’re telling me, Rebecca, is that there’s money to be made.

 Rebecca Nagle: There’s a lot of money to be made. There’s a lot of money to be made.

 Ana Marie Cox: [laughs] There’s surprisingly, there’s deep pockets because there’s deep, you know, dough on the other side. But I just wanna repeat back to you what I think you said just because it’s fascinating. And I think I want to make it really clear. There is some talk, there is some reason that is somewhat about this case is about kids. OK, fine. But if you dig deep, what you are seeing is an attempt to establish precedent, to undo almost everything that exists to protect tribal sovereignty.

 Rebecca Nagle: If the Supreme Court took this case in the broadest way possible and decided it based on the broadest way possible, it would absolutely set that precedent. And it’s interesting because you already see some people making that argument in other areas. So people are already, people have tried and are already making this like kind of like equal protection, race-based argument in other areas of federal Indian law. And some people are even doing it based on this case. And so I don’t think we have to, like, take a wild stretch of the imagination to see the broader implications of it. And then what I want to add is that I actually, I actually do think, and this was something that I was surprised by, that some people are fighting ICWA for ideological reasons. And that ideology is that our country should not have laws that are race conscious, should not have laws that are remedies to structural racism. And the thinking behind that is that the way to solve racism is to stop talking about race and to pretend like it doesn’t exist. And so when you look at the people who are attacking ICWA, a lot of them have also fought things like affirmative action. You know, it’s some of the same players that were behind the Abigail Fisher case and now the Harvard case. You know, we talked about the Voting Rights Act, it’s some of those people. And I think there is this really deep ideological divide, which I think in some ways is kind of intellectually dishonest because we can see all the ways that systemic racism in the child welfare system exists, but any effort to remedy that is what is unfair. [laughs] I think one of the things that’s very telling about this lawsuit is that they’re trying to get rid of something and not trying to build something different. I think if you’re concerned about children in foster care, there is a lot of reason to be concerned about the well-being of children in foster care in the country right now. You know, and there’s also a lot of reasons to see, you know, there’s a lot of evidence that ICWA actually does a lot of good. And so, yeah, I think if their end-goal was really helping Native children, they would be trying to build something, not trying to destroy something.

 Ana Marie Cox: So when I look at this case and your podcast and what I’ve learned, the case is itself about both children and the ability of non-Native people to adopt Native children in a echo of the boarding school, you know, system a little bit, that echoes—not the same! But it’s Echo. And it’s about who controls the resources in Native land, Native sovereignty. You know, you can’t oppress a people, just, you know, but, just in culture or just in economics, it’s both. It’s always both. You’re always, your oppressing in both these both these lanes. And it made me start to think about reparations. Which we talk a lot about in terms of slavery. But I really hear so much less discussion when it comes to Indigenous people. I mean, hardly any. I think I’ve talked to one person about it. But this case raises it for me, because it’s talking about the most precious resources you have in a community, which is the children, and who were taken.

 Rebecca Nagle: Yeah. And I think, you know, when I interviewed Native leaders, one thing, one thing that more than one Native leader said to me was, you know, if we can’t protect our children, then what can we protect? You know, if we can’t, if we can’t keep our children, then then what else do we have? Yeah, and I think when it comes to what justice looks like for Indigenous nations, you know, the slogan or the hashtag or what will you, but the thing that people are talking about a lot right now is Land Back. And I think that looks like a lot of different things. And so, you know, Under Secretary Deb Haaland, she’s trying to make the tribes putting land back in trust easier. There’s been some proposals that national parks or national forests should be returned to the stewardship of Indigenous nations. And I think it’s also restoring sovereignty over the land that we have that is recognized and really creating a legal reality where tribes, the inherent rights of our tribes to govern our land, to govern our citizens, is recognized. And right now, what we have in the United States, thanks in large part to the Supreme Court, some things that Congress has done, but mostly the Supreme Court, is that that’s piecemeal. And so when you look at civil jurisdiction, criminal jurisdiction, the right of law, the right of tribes to do everything from taxation, to arrest somebody, from speeding, for speeding it, it’s very complicated. And I think what we need is a full restoration of tribal sovereignty and tribal jurisdiction on tribal land and also restoring land to tribes. And my last thought, not to be too meta, but I think, you know, as our country faces a growing ecological and climate crisis, you know, I think that restoration of tribal sovereignty is going to be critical for all of us, and is what is best for all of us. You know, there’s the statistic that Indigenous people globally control about like 5% of the land in the globe, but protect 80% of biodiversity. And so, you know, Indigenous peoples, we really have the knowledge of that stewardship that is so desperately needed right now.

 

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Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Coalition awarded prize

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Native foster care nonprofit earns prize for child advocacy work

By: Jessika Eidson | Aug 25, 2021

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A grassroots nonprofit advocating for Native youth in the child welfare system was recently granted a highly competitive prize to further their efforts.

In 1978 the Indian Child Welfare Act set federal regulations to prioritize the specific needs of native children and their communities, regulations that the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Coalition aims to protect and upkeep here in Nebraska.

“The reality is that historical trauma continues to impact our families every single day," said Misty Frazier, executive director of the coalition. "With the child welfare system, and other systems, and other issues that Native families face, we are treating the symptoms of historical trauma.”

According to the Nebraska Foster Care Review Office's latest quarterly report Native children only make up 1.1% of the population, but make-up nearly 3.9% of foster children placed out of home or trial placement. They also make up nearly 5.9% of probation-supervised youth.

Native girls make up 10% of the children sent to a youth rehab and treatment center, the most restrictive type of placement and often the last option. Native boys make up 2.4% of that population.

The coalition aims to keep native children in the foster care system connected to their culture and community. They work with families to learn their rights, train care workers, and advocate for the children in and leaving the system.

One of their latest achievements was working to extend resources to native youths aging out of the system.

“For most of the tribes their age of majority is 18, and Bridge to Independence doesn’t start until they are 19, and so there was a one-year age gap," Frazier explained.

For their efforts, the coalition was recently awarded the Springboard Prize for Child Welfare. Only four applicants out of over 300 were granted the $200,000 prize.

The coalition plans to use the funds to continue their efforts for foster youth aging out of the system.

‘The child-welfare system is residential schools part two,’ says lawyer

SOURCE

By Anna McKenzie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

The Discourse

Aug. 27, 2021

This article contains content about residential “schools” that may be triggering. IndigiNews is committed to trauma-informed ethical reporting, which involves taking time and care, self-location, transparency and creating safety plans for those who come forward with stories to share.

Roslyn Chambers says she first began drawing connections between residential “schools” and Canada’s child-welfare system during law school.

It was the early 2010’s, and she was studying law at Dalhousie University in Halifax. After learning that her peers didn’t know about Canada’s residential “school” system or the Sixties Scoop — something Chambers believes everyone should know about — she started a discussion group.

They welcomed guest speakers to join them, and Chambers says their teachings helped her to understand that “the child-welfare system is residential schools part two.”

“The same principles that put residential schools in place are almost identical to what’s happening within the child-welfare system today,” she tells IndigiNews.

“It’s another thing that we’re going to get an apology for in twenty years.”

Chambers is a Black and Métis lawyer and the co-founder of Chambers Caldwell Law LLP. She spoke with IndigiNews about why it’s important to fight for Indigenous kids and families involved in the child-welfare system, and what lawyers can do differently.

Anna McKenzie: What is your area of expertise or focus as a lawyer, and how long have you been practicing?

Rosyln Chambers: I practice family law and child protection. I’ve been practicing for five years, which seems like a very short time. I was a mature law student with a lot of life experience. I think that’s part of why my practice is very strong and growing.

AM: How many parents [roughly] have you represented in cases against the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) or a Delegated Aboriginal Agency (DAA)?

RC: Hundreds. Somewhere between 200 and 250, and that’s in five years. That doesn’t include the people that call for advice.

AM: Why is it important for you to fight for Indigenous kids and their families who are involved with MCFD?

RC: It’s important to me because of the families that are broken and they’re getting broken apart by the Director [of MCFD], by the government, and their colonial views. I don’t know how else to describe it. Colonial arrogance, white privilege … The Director steps in and decides where that child goes, when in fact, the family and the community probably could have dealt with that situation better and with less disruption to the child.

It’s important to me because I’ve got a few new tools right now with the new Act [respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families]. I’m quoting it all of the time, and the judges are listening. The legislation has to change now that we have this new Act. The provinces need to step up.

I’m doing this work because I don’t want to see yet another government apology in twenty years. I want to make sure that every family, whether it’s a mom or dad or a grandmother, gets to have their voice heard against the Director. There are so many sad stories where the parents don’t get a lawyer, don’t know what to do, and end up losing their kids. It’s disgraceful, and so my work is basically trying to reunite the family. The Director has to understand that and they have to be more flexible and understanding instead of destroying families. Not all families are perfect.AM: What do you think needs to be changed about the way the legal system approaches Indigenous child welfare cases?

RC: The very first thing is, they have to listen to the parents. I think the judges need to listen to the parents a lot more. Also, the Director needs to be checked. That’s the key.

There’s been a number of refreshing changes recently, because we’re in an environment now where judges have a better understanding. Recently, a judge said that the Director shouldn’t go unchecked and that the court should be [more] engaged … and this was based on me trying to get an Indigenous child out of a non-Indigenous foster home. It’s important to me because these families are broken, and they are getting broken apart by the government.

I also think the Director shouldn’t be able to just remove kids and then deal with it later. [Social workers] should be calling and looking for a family member and involving the child’s nation where possible. Instead, parents may not be able to see their child for weeks.

There’s also a lack of adequate access. The Director seems to think that two hours, two or three times a week, is adequate to see your child.

There’s also a lot of people that rely on kids being in care. If you look it up, you’ll see how much money is spent on legal fees going to trial. There’s a financial infrastructure that relies on a certain amount of kids being in care. That money should be put into preventative measures like keeping kids at home, supporting parents with child care and respite care, services for mom and dad … that is money better spent that is going to make a change. ​​Or even just give [the money] to communities. Give it to First Nations.

There are some amazing social workers out there that really work to try and get the kids home, but they are the exception, sadly.

AM: What do you want other lawyers to know or do differently when they are representing indigenous families involved in the system?

RC: I want them to be empathetic. I want them to fight hard to be the advocate. You are the voice of your client. I want them to understand all of the services that may be available to Indigenous clients, like legal aid or supports in finding housing so parents can work towards getting their kids back. Those resources give us [lawyers] extra hours for Indigenous client support.

Be more imaginative and try to support the person as a whole. Also, make sure you know the kid’s name.

AM: Would you say law students are encouraged to pursue child protection law in school?

RC: No, I don’t think they are. It’s not sexy, it’s not fancy. It’s possibly not even lucrative. But it is a very valuable thing. I think there has to be a larger emphasis on it in family law, and I think it should also be a course on its own. A child protection [course] will help people understand the historical disadvantage of a group of peoples, and it’s sad to say that out loud but the child-protection system is the new residential school.

AM: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

RC: There’s another thing that perpetuates the historical disadvantage, and that’s “the watchlist.”

It’s easy to get into the child-protection system. It is very difficult to get out.

It’s also, you know, a stereotype. It’s like we don’t expect you to do well if you came out of the system, which is kind of ironic.

Also, kids are still being removed at birth. It was supposed to have stopped, but it still happens. One of my proudest moments was supporting a mom whose new baby was removed. She was still in the hospital and then she came home without the baby, but the baby came home that afternoon because I went to court right away and I said this is completely ridiculous. When you take a child away at birth, you know you are changing this child’s destiny and ability to bond.

Instead of coming and taking kids, provide [families] with [the] supports and services in advance.

A National Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. Access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866 925-4419.Within B.C., the KUU-US Crisis Line Society aims to provide a “non-judgmental approach to listening and problem-solving.” The crisis line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 1-800-588-8717 or go to kuu-uscrisisline.com. KUU-US means “people” in Nuu-chah-nulth.

Canada pledges millions to search for residential school graves

By Al Jazeera Staff | 10 Aug 2021 

Warning: The story below contains details of residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

 

Canada has promised tens of millions of dollars to help Indigenous communities in their search for unmarked graves linked to the government’s decades-long residential school system, which a commission of inquiry said in 2015 amounted to “cultural genocide”.

Hundreds of unmarked graves have been discovered since late May on the grounds of residential schools across Canada.

Between the late 1800s and 1990s, more than 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children were forced to attend the institutions, which aimed to forcibly assimilate them and destroy their cultures. Thousands of children are believed to have died there.

In a news conference in August, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said the government would provide an additional $66.2m ($83 million Canadian dollars) to help communities search for unmarked graves.

“As a country, we know the truth. Once you know the truth, you cannot unknow it. First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities have lived with the trauma caused by residential schools for generations,” Bennett said. “So today, we are announcing an additional $83 million in funding … to support more Indigenous communities in this extremely difficult and necessary work.”

The announcement comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is widely expected to trigger a snap election in the coming months amid countrywide calls for his government to do more to address the intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools.

Since hundreds of graves were first discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in the western province of British Columbia in late May, Indigenous community leaders and residential school survivors and their families have been plunged into renewed trauma.

They have demanded Ottawa support Indigenous-led efforts to find more unmarked graves and pressure the Catholic Church – which ran most of the institutions – to release its records, apologise and pay reparations.

 

A child holds a flag that reads 'Every Child Matters' during a march in British Columbia after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at residential schools across Canada [File: Kevin Light/Reuters]

Source: Al Jazeera

 

Keep reading

Canada: 182 unmarked graves found at another residential school

Will Canada face criminal charges for residential school abuses?

More unmarked residential school graves discovered in Canada

Canada: Protesters demand investigation into residential schools

 

Wisconsin had at least 10 Institutions for children

 

Wisconsin had at least 10 Native American boarding schools.

Students spent half their day doing hard labor, which financially supported the schools. At 1, so many students were dying they started shipping them off before they died on school grounds. https://t.co/DCZbl1LyvA

— Ruth H. Hopkins (Red Road Woman) (@Ruth_HHopkins) August 25, 2021

 

wisconsin historical society photo: Tomah Indian Industrial School

Wisconsin had at least 10 Native American boarding schools. Here's what to know about them.

Oneida Indian School

This boarding school was established in 1893 on the Oneida reservation and was run by the federal government.

In the book "Oneida Lives: Long-lost voices of the Wisconsin Oneidas," John Skenandore recalls how he lost one of his hands in an accident while working in the school's laundry room. He said he was injured when he tried to put a sheet through a wringer.

Children at the boarding schools were often detailed to work in the laundry. In the book, Skenandore wonders why he never received some kind of compensation for his injury.

"If I was only playing when this happened, I would not expect a thing, but I was put to work among the machinery at the age of twelve," he is quoted as saying.

 

AGENT REPORTS (pdf)(1889) 400+ pages

Squamish Nation to Investigate St. Paul’s Indian Residential School for Unmarked Graves

Byron Joseph, Elder, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), who led an opening prayer, called on the crowd gathered wearing orange to come together and help one another through this difficult time, as Squamish Nation begins an investigation of the former St. Paul's Indian Residential School site. Elisia Seeber

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) has announced it has launched an investigation into the former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School site to find answers about the children who attended the institution but never made it home.

On Tuesday (Aug 10) standing outside the site of the former institution, which once stood on the 500 block of West Keith Road in North Vancouver, Khelsilem (Dustin Rivers), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw spokesperson, said the Nation had embarked on an Indigenous-led initiative, on behalf of its people and in partnership with its relatives, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, to investigate the site for burial grounds and unmarked graves.

“We will begin that work to investigate and gather all information to honour and find those children who might not have gone home that had attended St. Paul’s Indian Residential School,” he said, adding that the work would be done with the support of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

Khelsilem said the investigation was just in the beginning stages and the process was still taking shape but would involve an inquiry into the site and a field investigation.

The phases of the investigation will include an interview process with survivors to help narrow down or expand investigation search areas, gathering all records related to the school throughout its history, and remote sensing searches, which may include ground-penetrating radar studies.

The announcement comes after the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation shared the discovery of the remains of an estimated 215 children in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School at the end of May. Since then, further Nations have announced their own such findings.

As the St. Paul’s site is now home to St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary, Khelsilem said it had unique considerations in comparison to other sites being investigated, which had to be considered during the investigation, including the extensive development that has occurred at the site.

There were 18 residential schools in B.C. St. Paul’s, located next to the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh community of Eslhá7an, was the only institution in the Metro Vancouver area.

It was opened in 1899 by the federal government’s Department of Indian Affairs and was managed and operated by the Roman Catholic Religious Teaching Order, the Sisters of Child Jesus.

Over 2,000 Indigenous children, representing six generations of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ Nations, and other Indigenous communities, were institutionalized there from grades one through eight until it closed in 1959.

Children in the school were segregated by age group and gender, often not permitted to visit other family members, stripped of their culture, and punished for speaking their native languages or taking part in their cultural traditions.

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw says oral histories told by St. Paul’s survivors include stories about children who disappeared.

“According to public records, 12 unidentified students died while attending St. Paul’s between 1904 and 1913,” the Nation said in a release, adding that the goal with the investigation is to find the location of each of these children and “bring them home to rest.”

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw held a private gathering on Monday (Aug. 9) to tell members that the work was beginning at the site.

“This work is really sacred and really important to our people and, first and foremost, this work is about protecting and helping our survivors,” Khelsilem said. “They’re first in our minds, as we begin this work.”

James Borkowski, the archbishop’s delegate for operations for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, who spoke on behalf of Archbishop Michael Miller, said the work to uncover the truth had already begun over the past two months, and “continues as an urgent priority.”

Earlier this summer, the archbishop shared an apology and a firm commitment on behalf of the local Catholic Church, to provide immediate supports and co-operation in ensuring that all documents related to residential schools be made available and accessible.

“We have much to learn and act on, as we hear from the Nations, and community members in this journey of truth and reconciliation related to the church’s historic and damaging role with residential schools,” Borkowski said.

“Our hope as Catholics is that our Creator will give us the courage and strength to follow the truth wherever it takes us.”

On June 28, the B.C. government allocated $12 million to support First Nations throughout the province with investigative work at former residential school sites, as well as cultural and wellness supports.

Each caretaker community can receive up to $475,000 for each site.

The province has also appointed First Nations liaisons to support communities through the work.

On Aug 10, the federal government also announced a further $321 million in additional support for Indigenous-led initiatives.

Chief Jen Thomas, səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ, whose father is a survivor of St. Paul’s, said she was “grateful for the work that’s going to be done” saying it was the “start of our healing journey for our survivors.”

Chief Wayne Sparrow (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) added on behalf of his community that “we’re going to work with each and every one of you to get to the truth.”

He acknowledged all Nations involved, both the federal and provincial governments and the Catholic Archdiocese for stepping up to do the work.

“The only way that we’re going to heal is doing it together,” Sparrow said.

Elder Byron Joseph of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, who led an opening prayer, called on the crowd gathered wearing orange to come together and help one another through this difficult time.

“This is a time where our people come forward,” he said. “The ones that have been forgotten. Those are the ones we have to honour. Those are the ones these prayers are for.

“Keep a strong mind and strong heart as we go through this together.”

**By Elisia Seeber

**Source

Ceremony, Investigation and Negotiations (Edmonton, Canada)

 August 17, 2021 Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail

There have been several news stories in the past few days that I’m including below. I hope it’s useful to have these collected in one place:

• About the 50-day ceremony at the Camsell site, where local Indigenous people and allies gathered nightly to bring awareness and try and halt construction

Lorelei Mullings holds her three week-old grandson Micah Mindus-Morin on the grounds of the former Charles Camsell Indian Hospital, in Edmonton, Monday Aug. 9, 2021. Mullins is a co-organizer of a protest that has been on site nearing 50 straight days, to bring awareness to the discovery of over 5,000 unmarked graves at Canada’s former residential school sites. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia

• Search for unmarked graves at former Edmonton hospital site to continue this month after first survey leaves questions unanswered

“Even if graves are found, those looking for answers may not get them. Records are scarce and DNA testing is possible but expensive, Bruneau says.

He also hopes former patients or a witnesses who may have details that could help with the search will come forward, though he knows speaking about the past can be painful.

“It seems like a good thing that they’re finding all these graves, but its also opening up old wounds.”

Elder Fernie Marty from the Papaschase First Nation, monitors the covering of dig sites on the grounds of the former Charles Camsell Hospital, in Edmonton Friday Aug. 6, 2021. Eleven sites were excavated on the grounds of the former hospital Thursday Aug. 5 after ground penetrating radar identified anomalies. No human remains or artifacts were found in the 11 sites, but Papaschase First Nation oral history says there are unmarked graves on the north east section of the property, which have not yet been searched. The hospital had served as a tuberculosis treatment centre for Indigenous peoples. Photo by David Bloom PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM DAVID BLOOM /David Bloom/Postmedia

• Updated article on the Indian Hospitals Class Action suit by Koskie Minsky and the Federal Government’s attempts to negotiate a settlement out of court [a correction: this suit is not new, as is stated in the article. It was launched several years ago]

“I think that people need to know that this happened in our hospitals, it happened recently and we need to acknowledge it,” [Chief Complainant Ann] Hardy told CTV News. 

“I know that sometimes Canadians think they’re just hearing too much of it, and ‘Why can’t we just get over it?’ and I think we’re not going to be able to, in my case, until we fully expose that this happened.” 

MORE

Holly Moore and the APTN Investigates team recently looked into the history and legacy of Indian Hospitals and tuberculosis in Canada. Out of their work, they produced a 25-minute video that provides context and dips into experiences at various hospitals, including the Camsell. In addition to interviews with several authors and researchers (such as Dr. Maureen Lux and Dr. Ian Mosby), they speak with Dorothy Wanahadie and Marilyn Buffalo about their experiences – or their family members’ experiences – as patients and staff at the Camsell.

I think what Stephen Lewis, Director of AIDS-Free World said, resonates. There’s a sense of “angry bewilderment” at the treatment of Indigenous people during the era of the Sanatoriums, but also at the lack of information today.

Hopefully all of our work to illuminate this past, and get answers, will be helpful.

To watch the video, please click here.

Lummi Nation reimagines foster care for Indigenous families

To reconnect parents and children, the tribe opened a supportive family housing center.

• Elizabeth Amon |
  The Imprint / August 2, 2021
  
  

Sche’lang’en Village, located on the Lummi Reservation in Washington. (Sche’lang’en Village)

Several years ago, the Lummi Tribal Council told Diana Phair, the executive director of the tribe’s Housing Authority: “We have 200-some children in foster care. We need to bring our children home.” 

GOOD READ

A Crime: Police handling 4 residential school investigations across Canada

By Kelly Geraldine Malone | The Canadian Press| Updated August 22, 2021 

A tally from police across the country shows there are four ongoing criminal investigations and one decade-long probe into complaints involving residential schools.  The Canadian Press contacted RCMP and other policing agencies across the country over the last two weeks.  The agencies said there are four ongoing investigations in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Yukon as well as a probe that began in 2011 into the Fort Alexander Residential School in Manitoba. 

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