AFN holds ‘national day of action’ on Parliament Hill to push child welfare change

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The Assembly of First Nations is holding a national day of action Thursday in Ottawa to push the issue of First Nations child welfare.

“The National Day of Action is a call to the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada to immediately and fully implement the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) orders on First Nations child welfare and Jordan’s Principle,” a release sent out Wednesday said.

The AFN’s event will take place on Parliament Hill and is the result of Resolution #40 from the AFN’s summer annual general assembly.

No other events are taking place across the country according to the AFN.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott are expected to attend and speak at the event.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Philpott said she is calling for a meeting early next year on Aboriginal child welfare, likening the current state of affairs to Canada’s residential school legacy that forcibly removed young people from their culture and families.

Philpott, who sent a letter this week to provincial and territorial counterparts requesting their attendance at the meeting, said the rate at which Canada is apprehending Indigenous kids is among the highest in the world.

“To me, this is arguably the most pressing priority of my new department,” Philpott said in an interview.

There is no cohesive plan to examine how to get children back into Indigenous communities, she said, suggesting it is necessary to get everyone together who has a role to play, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit leaders, child and family services agencies and groups such as the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.

The society’s executive director Cindy Blackstock, along with the Assembly of First Nations, has been engaged in a battle spanning more than a decade on the underfunding on child welfare services for First Nations children.

Philpott said the government is working to comply with the tribunal findings but conceded Ottawa has a “huge responsibility” to tackle outstanding problems with Indigenous child welfare.

She insisted, however, that Ottawa is working to turn the tide.

“We know that the federal government needs to step up and be a real partner in this work,” Philpott said in the letter to the provinces and territories.

“It is time that we do more and that we do it faster.”

The minister has pointed out that while lots of work remains to be done, the government has approved more than 19,700 cases since 2016 under what’s known as Jordan’s principle _ a policy aimed at ensuring First Nations children can get services without getting caught in red tape.

Philpott said she spoke last week with Sen. Murray Sinclair, who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s examination into Canada’s residential school legacy.

He told her it’s no coincidence provinces with the highest rates of children in foster care generally are the same provinces that had the highest rates of residential schools.

The need to address Indigenous child welfare issues topped the list of the TRC’s 94 calls to action.

The AFN event on Parliament Hill will take place between 10 am e.t. and noon.

National Chief Perry Bellegarde is scheduled to hold a news conference following the rally.

Contact APTN National News here: [email protected]

-with files from The Canadian Press

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2 thoughts on “AFN holds ‘national day of action’ on Parliament Hill to push child welfare change

  1. So she says that if a child needs help we have to contact them. So far there have been three suicides in our community in the past two weeks and youth have attempted or have said they will take their own lives because no one cares. Some young children are homeless some as young as 4 years old. Their single parents cannot afford the high cost of rent. So why doesn’t the Ministers do something instead of making false promises. We can’t even get through to them or their office.

  2. So she says that if a child needs help we have to contact them. So far there have been three suicides in our community in the past two weeks and youth have attempted or have said they will take their own lives because no one cares. Some young children are homeless some as young as 4 years old. Their single parents cannot afford the high cost of rent. So why doesn’t the Ministers do something instead of making false promises. We can’t even get through to them or their office.

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