Canadian governments continue to remove many Indigenous children from their homes. They have learned nothing from the disasters of residential schools and the “Sixties Scoop.” 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed into residential schools. The Sixties Scoop removed 20,000 Indigenous children from their families, placing them with non-Indigenous families in Canada and abroad.
The facts are staggering: more children than ever are being taken from their families. In 2016, there were 4,300 children under the age of four in foster care across Canada. In BC, 60% of all the children and youth in care are Indigenous. Of the 11,000 children in care in Manitoba, 10,000 are Indigenous.
In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the federal government discriminated against First Nations children by failing to provide the same level of child welfare services on reserve as they did elsewhere. It took ten years to reach this decision in response to a claim from the Assembly of First Nations and First Nations children’s advocate, Cindy Blackstock.
The underfunding of services and poverty are key factors in the shocking number of children taken from their families. Health Canada noted that “as a result of lack of services, families are left with the option of turning their child over to [the] child welfare system in an attempt to receive [a] basic level of care.”
Urban Indigenous children face similar fates. Rather than providing sufficient financial support to families, children are taken into care where foster parents receive more financial support. In many cases, these funds would be better spent assisting families. The consequences are devastating: children are traumatized, families torn apart, and many foster kids do not complete high school, not to mention the tragic epidemic of suicides and opioid overdoses. The trauma of losing one’s parents when going into foster care can be worse than the trauma of staying in a home where there is neglect.
Indigenous families deserve better. We cannot lose another generation. In November 2016, Grand Chief Ed John recommended that the BC government recognize Indigenous communities’ right to self-government, enable Indigenous communities to exercise full jurisdiction over Indigenous child welfare and invest an additional $8 million annually to increase the number of social workers, support workers, and others serving First Nations communities.
Socialist Alternative supports these recommendations and stands for an end to the racist underfunding of services to Indigenous children across Canada.
