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“Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde is urging First Nations across Canada to create their own child-welfare legislation – something the federal government says it supports – to prevent more Indigenous children from entering foster care.
Mr. Bellegarde made his plea at an emergency meeting on child welfare in Ottawa on Thursday. Canada has been grappling with systemic issues within its Indigenous child-welfare programs, which the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal says have been discriminating against First Nations children by providing less money for services on reserves than elsewhere in the country.
“As First Nations governments, we have the inherent right to self-determination,” Mr. Bellegarde told reporters at the two-day meeting. “If you don’t want delegated authority from the provincial Child and Family Services Act [in Ontario], create your own act. And then you occupy the field. And then that’s where you can incorporate culturally appropriate services and programs.””
– The Globe and Mail, AFN Chief calls on First Nations to create their own child-welfare legislation.
“Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott unveiled a six-point plan to tackle systemic issues with the country’s First Nations child welfare programs at an emergency meeting with provincial and Indigenous leaders in Ottawa Thursday.
The plan is part of a shift away from a system that critics say favours the apprehension of children — taking at-risk kids away from their parents — rather than one that focuses on preventing family problems in the first place.
To that end, Philpott said one part of her plan will be directing bureaucrats to change the programming focus to prevention and early intervention.
Programs for teen parents, rehabilitative family services, substance abuse treatment, warnings about fetal alcohol syndrome and other education campaigns are just some of the prevention programs used in some jurisdictions.”
– CBC News, Jane Philpott unveils 6-point plan to improve ‘perverse’ First Nations child welfare system.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #4 – Broken Child Welfare (System).
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
