English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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$Marie Collins \$

A. WHAT DOES ADVOCACY MEAN Child welfare professionals can be important advocates towards improving the child welfare system for First Nations, Métis and Inuit children in Ontario. The specific positions that Aboriginal communities are advocating for with respect to addressing child welfare and family violence include: > Develop separate child welfare legislation for Aboriginal peoples > Have a separate funding arrangement for Aboriginal child welfare services that addresses the jurisdictional issues > Continue to devolve responsibility for child welfare services to Aboriginal peoples themselves > Ensure the current funding model for First Nations child welfare services is adequate and proportionate to that of other children’s aid societies in the province > > Recognize Customary Care as a priority response to Aboriginal children in care > > Ensure family violence programs are holistically focused > > Recognize Métis-and Inuit-specific services in child welfare Passed in the House of Commons on December 12, 2007, “the child is first” is the essence of Jordan’s principle. Jordan’s principle applies to all government services available to children, youth, and their families. Jordan’s principle is consistent with all government obligations set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and many other federal and provincial statutes.
B. EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE FOR ABORIGINAL PEOPLES IN CANADA Over the last 20 years, there has been increasing acknowledgement of the impact of colonization on the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Consistent with the Planning Medicine Wheel, the work underway in the area of child welfare is directly related to this broader movement. ESTABLISHING A VISION Through the 1970s and 1980s, Canadian Indigenous leaders identified the abysmal conditions that Aboriginal peoples were experiencing. The leaders articulated a vision for Aboriginal peoples that included the restoration of autonomy and respect for original teachings and ways of living and being, including raising families. Due to the issues exposed by Indigenous leaders and issues that arose out of the Oka Crisis and the Meech Lake Accord, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was established in 1991 to respond to the many issues identified by Aboriginal peoples. DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS AND ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE In 1996, the RCAP published a 4000-page final report. The process included hearings, development of new relationships and research. The report held a body of knowledge about Aboriginal peoples that remains the definitive understanding of what had happened to First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Canada up to that point. The body of knowledge created out of RCAP was intended to support a 20-year agenda for implementing changes. Advocacy for First Nations children in care means to ‘stand up’ for children who otherwise do not have the resources or capacity to stand up for themselves. It means to fight for their rights in a system that continually and perpetually fails both them and their families. Advocacy means to ‘give voice’ to the experiences and issues of those children and families who have been rendered ‘voiceless’ in the shadows of experts who say they are acting in the ‘best interests’ of the children. Advocacy also means to increase awareness and education about the importance of Anishinaabe children maintaining their ties to their culture and community if placement out of the home is necessary. It means to help the government and citizens learn about the history of child welfare within Indigenous communities . . . advocacy also means actively engaging in efforts to help children in care, and foster parents and CAS understand the broader socio-political and historical reasons for being in care. This information is important so that children and foster families do not perpetrate racist notions of Indigenous people as being ‘unlovable’ or incapable of healthy parenting. - King, 2010 ACTIONS In many ways the data was overwhelming, and it took almost 10 years for the federal government to establish a process to move forward on the issues identified in the report. One of the most significant actions taken after RCAP was the creation of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) in 1998. The AHF was created in response to messages in the RCAP report: Aboriginal peoples need to heal from colonization and the deliberate actions that denied Indigenous peoples of their language, their culture and their children who were taken away to residential schools. The AHF funded 133
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WORKING WITH FIRST NATIONS, INUIT A
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SUPPORTING ABORIGINAL FAMILIES Than
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THE STEERING COMMITTEE Native Child
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8 4 > STRENGTHENING YOUR PRACTICE /
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Child welfare professionals have a
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4. To successfully protect First Na
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A range of violent behaviour can oc
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“The term ‘Aboriginal’ is off
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The Practice Guide is an invitation
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Clan family: This structure is base
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Family violence (witnessing and bei
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could live on the land and in the c
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The historical trauma of Aboriginal
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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Adapted from
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FAMILY VIOLENCE Family violence in
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General characteristics of lateral
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G. ATTACHMENT Culture has commonly
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In Indian country, we should probab
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Customary Care: Customary Care reco
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Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora
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2 > FIRST NATION, INUIT AND MÉTIS
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First Nations people living outside
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First Nations, Métis and Inuit peo
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and meeting obligations to medicine
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C. THE INUIT In 2006, there were 2,
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population relates primarily to the
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Individuals or their children were
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status as a result of marrying non-
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MILLENNIUM SCOOP In her report, Pro
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G. ABORIGINAL FAMILIES AND CHILD WE
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. . . if we go back to the origi
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Effectiveness of Healing Activities
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3 > UNDERSTANDING CHILD WELFARE AND
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and linguistic development, is a de
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The Medicine Wheel is an ancient sy
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Life Cycle Wheel training and teach
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1. Piliriqatigiinngniq — worki
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Traditionally, it was the women who
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The OACAS Practice Guide, Critical
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Page 87 and 88: A key tool that is often used to he
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Page 92 and 93: A. HOW ABORIGINAL FAMILIES DESCRIBE
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Page 118 and 119: SOURCES Ajunnginiq Centre, National
Page 120 and 121: A. WHAT DOES “ABORIGINAL COMMUNIT
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Page 124 and 125: ESTABLISH A COMMITTEE OF CHILD WELF
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Page 128 and 129: AHWS Healing Continuum Aboriginal H
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Page 136 and 137: To download a copy of Children Firs
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Page 142 and 143: A. A PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION In 1
Page 144 and 145: S O U R C E S Blackstock, C., Cross
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Page 148 and 149: APPENDIX A GLOSSARY Unless specific
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Page 152 and 153: APPENDIX B SAFETY PLANNING FOR WOME
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Page 156 and 157: flag situations arise from rigid ex
Page 158 and 159: REFERENCES 2-Sprited People of the
Page 160 and 161: Castellano, M.B., Archibald, L., &
Page 162 and 163: Hudson, P. & McKenzie, B. (2003). E
Page 164 and 165: Ontario Association of Children’s
Page 166: Teillet, J. (2010). Métis law in C
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English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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