First Nations must take control of child welfare

The issue of child welfare sits on the top of the social and health issues facing Indigenous people. The scope of this problem cannot be minimized.

It is estimated today that there are more than 40,000 Indigenous children in care across Canada — the highest percentage of any group. More than half of the children under age 14 in care in Canada are Indigenous.

This week the federal government and Indigenous organizations from across the country met in Ottawa to discuss and strategize on this serious issue.

Calling the problem a humanitarian crisis, Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott introduced her department’s six-point plan to reform child and family services for Indigenous peoples. First and most important was the commitment to fully implement the orders from the Human Rights Tribunal. Previously the tribunal had ruled that the federal government was practising discrimination by underfunding Indigenous child welfare programs.

The ruling was made in 2016 and so far, the tribunal has issued three compliance orders; a fourth is expected soon. It’s absolutely incredible that a federal department could be found guilty of discrimination and not act on it, requiring three compliance orders.

Philpott stated that the 2018 budget will contain “further investments to close the gaps.” She further stated that her department will work with First Nations on culturally appropriate programs for prevention, early intervention and family reunification as well as supporting Inuit and Metis leaders on culturally appropriate child and family services.

She said they will also work with communities to redraw areas of jurisdiction for child and family services and also work with provincial, territorial and First Nations governments to support reform. She said the Department of Indigenous Affairs will also develop a better way of collecting and sharing data on the rates and reasons Indigenous children are taken from homes.

For the first time in a long time, the minister in charge of Indigenous Affairs is showing political will to make substantial reform to child and family services.

But goodwill only goes so far. This issue has been repeatedly treated like a social ill rather than an issue of First Nations law and jurisdiction. Our social rights are guaranteed in the text as well as the spirit and intent of our treaties. However, when the British North America Act was drafted, the federal government and the provinces divided up all the areas of jurisdiction, leaving First Nations and the treaty rights to fall between the cracks.

The federal government has constitutional responsibility for “Indians and Indian lands” in the BNA Act; however, health care, education and social programs are provincial responsibilities. The federal government washes its hands of any responsibility once our people move to off-reserve locations. As a result, First Nations programs have historically been underfunded and farmed out to churches or provincial agencies.

One hundred and 50 years later, we have constitutional recognition for our treaty and Aboriginal rights as well as a growing population, resulting in greater influence on government policy. Philpott danced around this issue by stating that she would redraw areas of jurisdiction and support reform.

Our leaders need to step up and demand that the government recognize and support our right to create our own legislation and assume jurisdiction over child and family services along with other programs. Right now we are trying to create solutions in a legislative vacuum. We can describe horrific social conditions, but we have few supports from the federal or provincial governments to implement our policies. Provincial rules apply in child welfare, but federal underfunding continues. The result has been an under-resourced program over which our people have no control.

The issue of control is at the root of our relationship with governments in Canada. Colonialism is the lack of control and the imposition of one government on another. If one looks at our relationship with Canada and peels back the many layers like an onion, we reach the common point that we lack control over our lives — be it social, cultural, economic or political.

The time has come to stop tinkering with an old, obsolete machine and develop our own independent way of getting the job done.