Here. Previous coverage is here.
Canada
NPR: “Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Faces Opposition”
Here.
NYTs: “Canada to Pay Millions in Indigenous Lawsuit Over Forced Adoptions”
Here.
Op-Ed in Maclean’s About Canada’s Child Welfare Crisis
Here, by Pam Palmater. Canada’s numbers of Native children in care may be currently worse than pre-ICWA numbers in the United States (Task Force Four Report).
The increasing number of First Nations children being placed into foster care in Canada is nothing short of a crisis. Although Indigenous children make up only seven per cent of the population in Canada, they represent 48 per cent of all children in foster care. It is an astounding number until one examines these rates on a province-by-province basis. In Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Indigenous children represent a shocking 73 per cent, 85 per cent and 87 per cent of all children in care respectively, according to the most recent Statistics Canada report. However, Manitoba reports that their numbers of Indigenous children in care are increasing and currently stands at 90 per cent, which represents one of the highest rates in the world. This isn’t much of a surprise given that one newborn is taken away from his or her mother every day in Manitoba as a matter of course—the vast majority being Indigenous. They are not the only provinces implicated as Indigenous children in Ontario are 168 per cent more likely to be taken into care than white children.
“Canada Is Finally Launching An Inquiry Into Its Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis”
Here, from HuffPo.
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Releases Decision on Discrimination Against Children Living on Reserves
Here is the decision.
AANDC’s [Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada] design, management and control of the FNCFS [First Nations Child and Family Services] Program, along with its
corresponding funding formulas and the other related provincial/territorial agreements have resulted in denials of services and created various adverse impacts for many First
Nations children and families living on reserves.
Here is the media coverage.
This is a tremendous and long-fought victory for the First Nations and Family Caring Society, who brought the claim, and Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the Society and incredible driving force behind the claim.
First Five Recommendations of Canada’s TRC Report Involve Child Welfare
CBC story here.
Recommendations/Calls to Action here.
Child welfare
1. We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to commit to reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care by:i. Monitoring and assessing neglect investigations.
ii. Providing adequate resources to enable Aboriginal communities and child-welfare organizations to keep Aboriginal families together where it is safe to do so, and to keep children in culturally appropriate environments, regardless of where they reside.
iii. Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the history and impacts of residential schools.
iv. Ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child-welfare investigations are properly educated and trained about the potential for Aboriginal communities and families to provide more appropriate solutions to family healing.
v. Requiring that all child-welfare decision makers consider the impact of the residential school experience on children and their caregivers.
2. We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, to prepare and publish annual reports on the number of Aboriginal children (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) who are in care, compared with non-Aboriginal children, as well as the reasons for apprehension, the total spending on preventive and care services by child-welfare agencies, and the effectiveness of various interventions.
3. We call upon all levels of government to fully implement Jordan’s Principle.
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.
5. We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to develop culturally appropriate parenting programs for Aboriginal families.
Trudeau’s New Cabinet Includes First Indigenous Person as Attorney General of Canada and Justice Minister
Here.
Central to Trudeau’s cabinet is Jody Wilson-Raybould who was sworn-in as Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada. The former Assembly of First Nations regional chief of British Columbia and Crown prosecutor becomes the first Indigenous person to hold the senior portfolio which plays a role in almost every federal matter.
Also:
Led by Theland Kicknosway, a 13 year-old Pottawatami-Cree youth from Wahpole Island, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his new cabinet walked into history Wednesday as they were sworn into office in the ballroom of Rideau Hall.
NYTs Op/Ed by Thomas King: “No Justice for Canada’s First Peoples”
Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report
Recently released, here is the executive summary on residential schools, the survivors’ stories, and the call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. There has also been extensive news coverage in Canada surrounding the release of the report.
Executive Summary (pdf, 388 pages)
The Survivors Speak (pdf, 260 pages)
Calls to Action (pdf, 20 pages)
Thanks to Treena for sending them our way.
Turtle Talk 
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