TRC Calls to Action: #4

Legacy
Child Welfare

4. We call upon the federal government to enact Aboriginal child-welfare legislation that establishes national standards for Aboriginal child apprehension and custody cases and includes principles that:

i. Affirm the right of Aboriginal governments to establish and maintain their own child-welfare agencies.

ii. Require all child-welfare agencies and courts to take the residential school legacy into account in their decision making.

iii. Establish, as an important priority, a requirement that placements of Aboriginal children into

temporary and permanent care be culturally appropriate.

This Call is similar to the very first one, in that it holds up the importance of understanding the effects of the residential school experience on Indigenous people and communities and acknowledging the necessity for First Nations to have their own jurisdictional power over issues that affect them. It also reiterates the need for First Nations kids to be cared for or raised in a culturally appropriate context ie. by people who share and understand their culture and history. Essentially, the intention here is that Indigenous people and communities are given the same agency and respect afforded to the rest of us by trying to eliminate the systemic biases that (still, unfortunately) lead to Aboriginal children disproportionately being taken into care.