The federal government says it has a plan to take action against the crisis in child welfare.
That includes shifting from apprehension to prevention and trying to keep children connected to their families and culture.
Many of the reasons for over representation are well known – a lack of proper housing, poverty and inter-generational trauma.
Another problem is the data, or lack of it.
In an opening speech at a two-day emergency meeting on child welfare in Ottawa Thursday, Indigenous Services Minsiter Jane Philpott said the data available to count the number of Indigenous kids in care is not good enough and without an accurate measure you can’t properly understand what is wrong and fix it.
An estimated 40,000 Indigenous children are in care across Canada, accounting for more than half of the kids in care overall, but Philpott said she doesn’t believe anyone actually knows the real number.
She said the government has the political will to fix the crisis, including getting accurate data, but she won’t yet put deadlines or targets on reducing the number of kids in care and keeping more families together.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed says the discrepancies in services for Indigenous children are rooted in a lack of a basic level of respect for Indigenous families and culture.
Philpott said the ultimate goal is Indigenous management of child welfare but Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde is urging First Nations to take control now and not wait for Ottawa or provincial governments to delegate the authority to them.
-with files from The Canadian Press
Minister Philpott is on the right track. However, what happens to the thousands of social workers employed by provincial child welfare agencies? If it wasn’t for confiscating Indigenous children, they would have nothing to do. I should know as I worked for one here in BC.
We have been fighting in Canadian Courts for this day since 2011. We promised our children back then that we would fight for ALL Native children’s rights to be recognized so that they will be released from this NEW RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL program of complete Cultural Genocide and ALL go home to their families and Nations IMMEDIATELY!
For our Tyendinaga Mohawk children it started in Alberta, in 2011. Where the Canadian Government unlawfully abducted 7 Sovereign Mohawk babies. Alberta Court Justice O’Gorman declared, on record, that raising our children in the Mohawk Tradition constitutes ‘cruel and unusual punishment of the children’. Thereby severing ALL ties to us, their birth family. So we took our case of Genocide to the UN and to the Capital in Ottawa; where they unlawfully abducted 3 more Sovereign babies. Ottawa Court Justice Shelston concurred with Alberta Justice O’Gorman’s decision of blatant Cultural Genocide. This time only, completely disregarding the TRC Report for having any validity whatsoever.
Our most current lawyer is under attack by the Upper Law Society, where they are trying to disbar him because he is fighting for ALL First Nations children to be returned to their birth families and respective Nations using our case of obvious Cultural Genocide.
The Canadian Government has absolutely NO rights over Our First Nations Children! It is against the Geneva Convention to impose Citizenship on ANYONE! Children included!!!
The Canadian Government, to this day, has the audacity to take our First Nations Children, tell us to speak English only, change the children’s names and identities, marking them down as White, telling the children to their faces that they are NOT First Nations, they are in fact, White, cutting their Traditional long hair, and teaching them all how to fight, be competitive, and how to be against each other.(sound familiar?) If this is all they want for their children, so be it. But the colonial way is the complete opposite of the Mohawk Tradition and Canada has absolutely NO right to dictate to a Sovereign people on how to live.
IT’S TIME CANADA!!! It’s time to release ALL our First Nations Children from your Colonial hands!
Never mind imposing your supposed solutions, your grief counselors, and your idea of education (which leaves a lot to be desired) on First Nations Peoples.
Oh, Canada,
Instill some Honor into the Canadian fabric way of life. Honor the Two Row Wampum and let First Nations children heal in their respective Nations with their own Culture and Traditions.
Oh, Canada,
the Whole World is watching you now.
Oh, Canada,
Your hollow apologies and your crocodile tears
Have reached up to Heaven over the years.
Now, they fall upon deaf ears.
Minister Philpott is on the right track. However, what happens to the thousands of social workers employed by provincial child welfare agencies? If it wasn’t for confiscating Indigenous children, they would have nothing to do. I should know as I worked for one here in BC.
There needs to be a deadline on those numbers by the Federal Government. It’s been over 3 years of this gross negligence. Enough is enough.
We have been fighting in Canadian Courts for this day since 2011. We promised our children back then that we would fight for ALL Native children’s rights to be recognized so that they will be released from this NEW RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL program of complete Cultural Genocide and ALL go home to their families and Nations IMMEDIATELY!
For our Tyendinaga Mohawk children it started in Alberta, in 2011. Where the Canadian Government unlawfully abducted 7 Sovereign Mohawk babies. Alberta Court Justice O’Gorman declared, on record, that raising our children in the Mohawk Tradition constitutes ‘cruel and unusual punishment of the children’. Thereby severing ALL ties to us, their birth family. So we took our case of Genocide to the UN and to the Capital in Ottawa; where they unlawfully abducted 3 more Sovereign babies. Ottawa Court Justice Shelston concurred with Alberta Justice O’Gorman’s decision of blatant Cultural Genocide. This time only, completely disregarding the TRC Report for having any validity whatsoever.
Our most current lawyer is under attack by the Upper Law Society, where they are trying to disbar him because he is fighting for ALL First Nations children to be returned to their birth families and respective Nations using our case of obvious Cultural Genocide.
The Canadian Government has absolutely NO rights over Our First Nations Children! It is against the Geneva Convention to impose Citizenship on ANYONE! Children included!!!
The Canadian Government, to this day, has the audacity to take our First Nations Children, tell us to speak English only, change the children’s names and identities, marking them down as White, telling the children to their faces that they are NOT First Nations, they are in fact, White, cutting their Traditional long hair, and teaching them all how to fight, be competitive, and how to be against each other.(sound familiar?) If this is all they want for their children, so be it. But the colonial way is the complete opposite of the Mohawk Tradition and Canada has absolutely NO right to dictate to a Sovereign people on how to live.
IT’S TIME CANADA!!! It’s time to release ALL our First Nations Children from your Colonial hands!
Never mind imposing your supposed solutions, your grief counselors, and your idea of education (which leaves a lot to be desired) on First Nations Peoples.
Oh, Canada,
Instill some Honor into the Canadian fabric way of life. Honor the Two Row Wampum and let First Nations children heal in their respective Nations with their own Culture and Traditions.
Oh, Canada,
the Whole World is watching you now.
Oh, Canada,
Your hollow apologies and your crocodile tears
Have reached up to Heaven over the years.
Now, they fall upon deaf ears.
There needs to be a deadline on those numbers by the Federal Government. It’s been over 3 years of this gross negligence. Enough is enough.