Reform is needed in Canada’s child welfare system.
by CINDY BLACKSTOCK and SÉBASTIEN GRAMMOND of The Toronto Star
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reminded us that provincial child welfare systems perpetuate the harms of the residential schools.
Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould has unveiled a set of 10 principles intended to govern the relationship between the federal government and the Indigenous peoples. Reconciliation, it is said, is to be achieved through recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership. Ottawa now recognizes that Indigenous self-government and laws are critical to the country’s future.
Even though they reflect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples only in part, these principles are a step in the right direction. But our country’s success will be measured not by their formulation, but by their realization. Such a declaration of principles is meaningless if the old colonial, bureaucratic ways are perpetuated on the ground.
Reform is needed in Canada’s child welfare system.
Child welfare is a case in point. Currently, the federal government funds child welfare services for Indigenous children living on reserve. Through decisions made by bureaucrats in Ottawa about what is funded and what is not, it effectively makes policy unilaterally and sets the level of service.
Reform is urgent. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reminded us that provincial child welfare systems perpetuate the harms of the residential schools. Child welfare should be the priority in the implementation of the federal government’s new statement of principles.
There is no clearer example of the “colonial systems of administration and governance” that the statement of principles vows to discard. It extends colonialism beyond the Indian Act system as the government cannot even be held to standards and rules set by Parliament.
The statement of principles affirms that Indigenous self-government is an inherent right and that this requires “space for the operation of Indigenous jurisdiction and laws.” Yet current federal child welfare policy does the opposite.
Indigenous child welfare agencies are funded only if they agree to comply with existing provincial laws. Provincial laws, however, were not designed with Indigenous culture in mind.
Their application led to the Sixties’ Scoop, when large numbers of Indigenous children were removed from their families, thus destructuring many communities and sending the message that Indigenous parents are incapable of properly raising children.
The situation has improved, but Indigenous children remain severely overrepresented in provincial child welfare systems — half of the children in foster care across the country are Indigenous. In most cases, non-Indigenous social workers and judges decide what is in the best interests of Indigenous children.
There are success stories where Indigenous communities have created their own child welfare system. The Atikamekw, for instance, have reduced by 80 per cent the number of children placed in foster care outside the community, by using family conferencing circles conducted in their own language. But the current framework creates numerous hurdles for similar projects.
Reform is needed in Canada’s child welfare system.
A way forward would be the adoption of federal legislation recognizing Indigenous jurisdiction regarding child welfare. Such legislation has been in place in the United States for 40 years and is considered a success. In Canada, Parliament has recognized Indigenous jurisdiction regarding education in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
Designing such legislation must be done in collaboration with the Indigenous peoples and must bind the federal government to equitable and sustainable needs-based funding. Again, the recent statement of principles shows the way.
The government recognizes that Indigenous Peoples should have the opportunity to enter into agreements as “acts of reconciliation that form the foundation for ongoing relations.” Yet, since the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal held in January 2016 that the current federal child welfare program discriminates against 165,000 First Nations children, the federal government has been fighting in court to preserve the status quo.
In fact the tribunal has been so unsatisfied with Canada’s implementation of the January 2016 decision that it has issued three non-compliance orders and another is pending. While a National Reform Committee including First Nations representatives has been set up, it has met only a handful of times and the government has yet to demonstrate any serious commitment to implementing solutions that are already on the books and ones proposed by the committee.
Reform is needed in Canada’s child welfare system.
Lastly, the statement of principles stresses the importance of a renewed fiscal relationship. Again, the lack of proper funding has hampered the development of Indigenous systems and laws. Indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare is recognized in certain self-government agreements, for example in the Yukon, but the federal government will not fund the development of Indigenous child welfare systems.
Reform is urgent. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reminded us that provincial child welfare systems perpetuate the harms of the residential schools. Child welfare should be the priority in the implementation of the federal government’s new statement of principles.
Unless there is a strong political will to implement them, these principles risk joining, in the dustbin of history, other noble policy statements that had little practical impact.
