English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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$Marie Collins \$

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) is responsible for funding child welfare in First Nations communities through a separate arrangement known as the 1965 Indian Welfare Agreement and through the First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS) Program which was created in 1990 > > Ontario’s Child and Family Services Act requires children’s aid societies to act in the best interests of the child, protect children and youth from abuse and neglect and ensure their well-being. Ontario has enacted provisions and established policies for Aboriginal child welfare agencies to provide services for Aboriginal families on reserves under provincial law (e.g. Part X: Indian and Native Child and Family Services, Child and Family Services Act). For more information about the Human Rights Commission case, please see Section Six. A critical issue has arisen with respect to jurisdiction: “Native agencies are bound by the same provincial child-welfare laws as their mainstream counterparts, but must survive on far tighter budgets under a strict federal funding formula that takes little account of provincial legislation” (Philp, 2002). In 2007, the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission that discriminatory services violated human rights. This case is currently undergoing a judicial review based on the Human Rights Commission’s decision to dismiss the case. The current child welfare system in Ontario includes: > > Non-Aboriginal children aid societies (mandated service) > > Aboriginal children aid societies (mandated service) > > Aboriginal child welfare organizations under the Association of Native Child and Family Services Agencies of Ontario (ANCFSAO) (includes some of the Aboriginal CASs) > > Aboriginal community organizations To this day, child welfare jurisdiction is still not clearly defined, and some First Nations contend that in the absence of specific federal legislation, the province has no rights over their people. 62 H. A HEALING PROCESS First Nations, Métis and Inuit people describe the process that is required to recover from the historical experiences as a healing process. As a result of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People, a number of recommendations were made about healing. Many families are relearning their cultural heritage, including how to be a proud Aboriginal person and parent — often called reclamation of what has been lost during the residential schools and colonization. In 1998, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) was created to support this healing process in communities and individuals. Its work describes a process that individuals and families need to go through to recover from this history.
. . . if we go back to the origin of the word heal . . . it is structurally related to the word whole, while is in itself related to the word holy. And this is something I understand we are all trying to do together. The healing process is a way of recapturing our wholeness . . . what we are doing here is a sacred thing (Aboriginal Services Branch and Learning and Teaching Resources Branch, 2005). Over its 15 years of work, the AHF identified a number of lessons learned: > > Healing is possible for both individuals and communities and both appear to go through distinct stages of a healing journey > > It is challenging to separate an individual’s healing journey from his/her family’s or his/her community’s healing journey > > The healing journey is a long-term process, probably involving several decades > > Healing cannot be confined to issues such as addictions, abuse or violence > > Healing interventions and programs have the most impact when they take place within the context of a wider community development plan > > Community healing requires personal, cultural, economic, political and social development initiatives > > Healing is directly connected to nation building > > Thirty-six months is a minimum time to move through needs identification, outreach, and initiation of therapeutic healing SURVIVOR’S HEALING JOURNEY The AHF describes the process of healing. The journey begins with the community, family and/or individual establishing safety. As a child welfare professional, you will often work with families where safety is the primary need and your interventions will be critical to helping the family stay on a healing journey. The responsibility for encouraging healing is not yours alone, but rather that of the individual, the family and other community services working in partnership. PRACTICE TIP To further your understanding of the Healing Process, a suggestion would be to read the stories of Aboriginal people in From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools written by Castellano, Archibald & DeGagné (2008) for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. 63
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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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Page 34 and 35: G. ATTACHMENT Culture has commonly
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“CAS was called in because the fa
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3. Focus group participants express
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Some of the training provided to re
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SOURCES Ajunnginiq Centre, National
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A. WHAT DOES “ABORIGINAL COMMUNIT
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Organizational change within CAS in
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ESTABLISH A COMMITTEE OF CHILD WELF
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“Our organization has agreements
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AHWS Healing Continuum Aboriginal H
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SOURCES Aboriginal Healing and Well
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A. WHAT DOES ADVOCACY MEAN Child we
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community initiatives, conducted re
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To download a copy of Children Firs
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3. What interventions are offered t
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and ongoing needs with the resource
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A. A PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION In 1
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S O U R C E S Blackstock, C., Cross
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ONTARIO ABORIGINAL ORGANIZATIONS Ch
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APPENDIX A GLOSSARY Unless specific
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emaining within Canada. All 10 prem
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APPENDIX B SAFETY PLANNING FOR WOME
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APPENDIX C SAFETY PLANNING FOR THE
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flag situations arise from rigid ex
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REFERENCES 2-Sprited People of the
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Castellano, M.B., Archibald, L., &
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Hudson, P. & McKenzie, B. (2003). E
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Ontario Association of Children’s
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Teillet, J. (2010). Métis law in C
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English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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