Current Reality
Indigenous children are 17 times more likely to be removed from their families and put in the child welfare system than non-Indigenous youth in Canada, according to a 2019 Canadian Incidence Study on Reported Child Abuse and Neglect.
The 2021 census also found that 3.2 per cent of Indigenous children in Canada were in foster care, compared to just 0.2 per cent of non-Indigenous children in Canada.
Indigenous children accounted for more than half of all children in foster care, at 53.8 per cent, despite representing only 7.7 per cent of children 14 and under in Canada.
October 17, 2024: First Nations chiefs and proxies from across Canada voted down a resolution to fully accept a $47.8B settlement agreement on long-term reform of First Nations child and family services. Following two days of hearing varying perspectives on the proposed deal, chiefs held a lengthy debate on a resolution titled “Our Children, Our Future — Draft Agreement on reforming the First Nations Child and Family Services Program.”
267 chiefs and proxies voted in opposition. 147 voted in favour, with one abstention.
August 2, 2024: First Nations Family and Caring Society released Draft FSA Report Card: Evaluation of the Key Elements of the Final Settlement Agreement on First Nations Child and Family Services. The Report Card gives a failing grade on numerous sections of the Agreement.
https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/2024-10/proposed%20amendments%20to%20draft%20FSA.pdf
Proposed amendments:
https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/2024-10/proposed%20amendments%20to%20draft%20FSA.pdf
Feb. 9, 2024: Supreme Court – Friday’s ruling affirms First Nation, Inuit and Métis self-government and jurisdiction over their child welfare services. In a unanimous decision, the court said the “The act as a whole is constitutionally valid. “The essential matter addressed by the Act involves protecting the well-being of Indigenous children, youth and families by promoting the delivery of culturally appropriate child and family services and, in so doing, advancing the process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.”
Progress on reducing the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in care can be viewed through three distinct lenses: Federal, Provincial and the Candian Human Rights Tribunal.
Federal Actions
Provincial Actions
May 2, 2024: Québec court authorizes off reserve class-action lawsuit againtst the governments of Québec and Canada over discrimination they claim was suffered related to the director of youth protection services and other health and social services.
Feb. 10, 2022: The Court of Appeal of Québec ruled that Bill C-92 “is constitutional, except for ss. 21 and 22(3), which are not”. These sections deal with the right of Aboriginal self-government and the regulation of Child and Family Services. The provincial governments of Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories also support the Québec appeal and argue that Bill C-92 infringes on provincial jurisdiction
Birth Alerts:
Since Sept. 16, 2019 six provinces have abandoned the use of Birth Alerts to apprehend Indigenous children at birth: BC (Sept. 16, 2019), Ontario (Oct. 15, 2020), Manitoba (June 30, 2020), PEI (Feb. 5, 2021), Saskatchewan (Feb 1, 2021) and New Brunswick (Oct. 29, 2021). Currently, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec practice birth alerts.