First Nations advocate’s court battle to end soon

Human rights court to rule if Ottawa discriminated against aboriginal children

OTTAWA— Nine emotional years after she first challenged the federal government, First Nations child welfare advocate Cindy Blackstock is awaiting a ruling from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that will determine if Canada has discriminated against children on reserves.

Blackstock is the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, which filed the complaint with the Assembly of First Nations in 2007.

It argued the federal government failed to provide First Nations children the same level of welfare services that exist elsewhere, contrary to the Canadian Human Rights Act. It said this was discrimination on racial grounds.

Alot has changed during the course of this fight, Blackstock said.

“When I look back nine years and I think about what’s changed in the world, to give it some context . . . Obama became the first AfricanAmerican U.S. president and prime minister Harper came and went,” she said.

“But most importantly, a whole generation grew up . . . nine years is such a long time in a child’s life.”

It is extraordinary this case had to be filed in the first place, Blackstock said.

“Every day I wake up and I ask myself, ‘why did we have to bring the government of Canada to court to get them to treat First Nations children fairly?’ ”

Aboriginal child welfare was one of the central issues flagged in the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which spent six years examining Canada’s residential school legacy.

The report said governments, including at the federal level, need to reduce the number of aboriginal children taken into care by providing adequate resources for communities and child-welfare organizations.

It also called for child-welfare legislation that sets national standards.

The Liberal government has committed to implementing all of the suggestions from the TRC, including an overhaul of child welfare.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is expected to publish its ruling online on Tuesday morning.