The structure of Aboriginal child welfare in Canada

The structure of Aboriginal child welfare in Canada

Authors: Sinha, Vandna and Kozlowski, Anna

Year of Publication: 2013

Link: 

http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/iipj/vol4/iss2/2/

Note: Contains statistical tables

Source: 

The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 4(2), pages 1-21.

Abstract: 

"Aboriginal children are currently overrepresented in out-of-home care in Canada; this extends a historical pattern of child removal that began with the residential school system. The overrepresentation of Aboriginal children persists despite legislative and structural changes intended to reduce the number of Aboriginal children in care. Several recent developments suggest potential for improvement in services for Aboriginal children and families in the near future. However, greater information about the structure of Aboriginal child welfare in Canada is needed to support program and policy development. We present a broad overview of the variation in Aboriginal child welfare legislation and standards, service delivery models, and funding formulas across Canadian provinces and territories. We draw on this review to suggest specific priorities for future research."

Sinha & Kozlowski (2013, p. 1)

 http://cwrp.ca/publications/2748

 

Child Welfare Services In Canada: Aboriginal & Mainstream

Child Welfare Services In Canada: Aboriginal & Mainstream

This movement goes hand in hand with the broader movement towards self-government, especially because the issues driving family difficulties in Aboriginal communities are systemic. They require a multi-dimensional community-based response, extending beyond individual child welfare agencies, to address economic development and holistic inter-generational healing (Blackstock et al., 2005). Child Welfare Services In Canada: Aboriginal & Mainstream http://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/docs/fact%20sheets/child%20and%20youth/NCCAH-fs-ChildWelServCDA-2EN.pdf

First Nations Fact Sheet: A GENERAL PROFILE ON FIRST NATIONS CHILD WELFARE IN CANADA Prepared by Marlyn Bennett

First Nations Fact Sheet: A GENERAL PROFILE ON FIRST NATIONS CHILD WELFARE IN CANADA Prepared by Marlyn Bennett

The extension of provincial child welfare jurisdiction on reserve was viewed as yet another attempt at cultural genocide, which continues to contribute to the destruction of Aboriginal cultures (Giesbrecht, 1992; Hudson and McKenzie, 1985). Many First Nations leaders point out that in the absence of specific federal legislation, it does not give provinces rights over their people. In the meantime, First Nations governments and  their child welfare agencies have reluctantly accepted to implement provincial child welfare legislation. Provincial jurisdiction, for the time being, is accepted as an interim arrangement until such time as specific First Nations legislation is developed and enacted by First Nations through the self-government process.

http://www.fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/FirstNationsFS1.pdf

SHARING THEIR STORIES: Narratives of Young Métis Parents and Elders about Parenting Catherine Graham and Tanya Davoren

SHARING THEIR STORIES: Narratives of Young Métis Parents and Elders about Parenting Catherine Graham and Tanya Davoren

Being Métis is not simply a matter of being of mixed First Nations and European heritage. Métis are a distinct people with a shared history dating back to the 18th century when the fur trade began its move towards the central western parts of North America, at which time fur traders and 'Indian' women entered into relationships with each other. As the offspring of these relationships grew up, they began to marry each other and settle into their own communities along fur trade route – around the Great Lakes, throughout the Prairie Provinces, and up to the Mackenzie River into what is now known as the Northwest Territories. The Métis within these communities had their own "unique culture, traditions, language (Michif), and way of life, collective consciousness and nationhood" (Métis National Council, n.d.). Over the course of history, the Métis have often been referred to as the 'forgotten people.' Métis were reduced to a position of irrelevance within the fabric of Canadian society. They were denied full membership in mainstream society because they were Aboriginal, and were also denied status as Indians under the Indian Act. Politically powerless, denied education because they did not pay taxes on their 'road allowance'3 homes, and forcibly kept away from the reserves, the Métis became increasingly marginalized (Shore, n.d., p. 1). The Métis Nation has had to fight tirelessly for the recognition of their rights. In 1982, Métis rights were entrenched in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, although these rights still remain largely undefined. The exception to this is the recognition of harvesting rights that were affirmed in the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R v. Powley. In their summary of the case, Pape and Salter Barristers and Solicitors (n.d.) state that in addition to affirming harvesting rights, the court also affirmed that the term 'Métis' did not apply to all persons of mixed European and 'Indian' ancestry. It also set out three broad criteria for identifying rights holders under Section 35. These are: 3 Road allowance refers to the ditches on the side of roads where Métis who had no land of their own often built their homes. This is why Métis were sometimes referred to as the Road Allowance People. 4 It is not clear how many of those who self-identified as Métis in the Census would also qualify as possessing Aboriginal rights under Section 35. ∙ Self-Identification, meaning that the individual must self-identify as a member of a Métis community and have an ongoing connection to that community; ∙ Ancestral Connection, meaning that the individual must be able to prove that they have an ancestral connection to a historic Métis community; and ∙ Community Acceptance, meaning that a modern Métis community must accept the individual. That is, "[t]here must be proof of a solid bond of past and present mutual identification between the person and the other members of the Métis community" (p. 5)

The Plains Cree: Trade, Diplomacy and War, 1790 to 1870 by John S. Milloy

The Plains Cree: Trade, Diplomacy and War, 1790 to 1870 by John S. Milloy

The story of the Plains Cree begins in the late seventeenth century with the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company bayside trading posts on the borders of Cree territory. As middlemen in the trade, the Cree moved through the northern woodlands into western parkland and plains around the Saskatchewan River and Red River. By 1790, the Cree were well established as a nation of the plains. But far from being the warring raiders of myth, the Plains Cree and other native plains peoples developed a set of well-structured, intertribal relationships that ensured their security and enabled them to acquire some of the goods necessary to meet the challenges of existence.

John Milloy presents the first economic, military and diplomatic history of the Plains Cree from contact with the Europeans in the 1670s to the disappearance of the buffalo from Cree lands by the 1870s, focusing on reconstructing the military and trade chronology between 1790 and 1870. He describes three distinct eras, each characterized by a paramount motive for war – the wars of migration and territory which set the western economic and military stage upon  which the emerging Plains Cree nation would play out its existence, the horse wars during the "golden years" of plains Indian life, and the buffalo wars which mark the trail to the reserves.

Intimately related to each era was a particular trade pattern and a military system that linked the Cree with other plains tribes and with non-natives. By tracing these themes, Milloy charts the ability of the Cree to serve their economic alliances or undertaking military or diplomatic offensives.

With his new "historical topography" of western Canada, Milloy has established important new perspectives on the nineteenth-century prairie West.

A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the by John S. Milloy

A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the by John S. Milloy

John S Milloy is professor of history and Native studies at Trent University. He has written extensively on Aboriginal history and frequently acts as a consultant on Aboriginal issues. A National Crime is based on his research for the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through the Canadian residential school system. Begun in the 1870s, it was intended, in the words of government officials, to bring these children into the "circle of civilization." The results, however, were far different. More often, the schools provided an inferior education in an atmosphere of neglect, disease, and often abuse.

Using previously unreleased government documents, historian John S. Milloy provides a full picture of the history and the reality of the residential school system. He begins by tracing the ideological roots of the system and follows the paper trail of internal memoranda, reports from field inspectors, and letters of complaint. A National Crime shows that the residential school system was chronically underfunded and often mismanaged, and documents in detail how this affected the health, education, and well-being of entire generations of Aboriginal children.