English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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
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