The racism in child welfare ‘has to stop’
Federal ministers Bennett, Philpott vow action on Indigenous child-welfare crisis
The shockingly high numbers of Indigenous children in foster care and group homes are the products long-standing racism and discrimination, Canada’s minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs says.
Carolyn Bennett said social workers and agencies must give a “second thought” before taking an Indigenous child from his or her family.
“Every agency has to ask themselves the question before apprehending, is there something else that can be done?” Bennett said Friday on the final day of a twoday “emergency meeting” on Indigenous child welfare.
“That’s what this conversation is about, it’s bringing children home, into healthy situations that are safe. No more of this automatic (apprehensions) because there’s not enough bedrooms or not enough cupboards or not a fire extinguisher,” Bennett said.
“Let’s just be real about the racism and discrimination in these decisions that are being taken. And it just has to stop.”
The Children and Families Together conference in Ottawa drew First Nations, Inuit, Innu and Métis leaders from across Canada together with senior members of provincial and territorial governments to meet with Bennett and Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott. It was the first gathering of its type since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hived the former Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs in two last year.
The meeting heard compelling — in some cases heart-breaking — accounts from children snatched away from their families, then shunted between as many as 20 foster home and group homes before “aging out” of the system at age 18.
“Some data suggests that it happens every day in Canada that some First Nations, Inuit or Métis child is taken from their mother at birth,” Philpott said.
On Thursday, Philpott announced a six-point plan to address the over-representation of Indigenous children in care, including supporting communities that want to take jurisdiction of child and family services and committing the government to complying with a 2016 order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Indigenous funding.
Change won’t come right away, she warned, but steps need to be taken to stop children from being taken into care, far from their homes and their culture.
“Children have to be with their community and families unless it’s absolutely impossible to find another solution,” Bennett said. “Of course, the safety of those children is critical, but those children can be safe with their aunt … with their grandmother, in their communities in a program of kinship care. So lets not use safety as an excuse to extract children from their culture.”
But while participants agreed on the need for action, they didn’t emerge Friday with a planned joint statement on a commitment to action.
“That’s not anything to be discouraged about,” Philpott said. “The will is there. We’ve agreed on the core issues to be addressed. I absolutely believe everyone is understanding the importance and severity of this problem and we will come to a point where we can have those agreements down the road.”