{"id":270242,"date":"2022-04-20T10:31:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T14:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/transfer-authority-of-child-welfare-to-indigenous-communities\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T23:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T03:53:41","slug":"transfer-authority-of-child-welfare-to-indigenous-communities","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2022\/04\/transfer-authority-of-child-welfare-to-indigenous-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Transfer authority of child welfare to Indigenous communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent reminders of the over-representation of First Nations children in child welfare services and of those services\u2019 shortcomings and harms have come from the courts<\/a>, a public inquiry<\/a> in Quebec and Parliament. At the same time, jurisdictional wrangling persists about who should be running such services, with Quebec and Ottawa disputing<\/a> how much authority can be transferred to Indigenous communities. A recent study<\/a> in which I was involved supports Indigenous communities running these services for themselves.<\/p>\n

Our small-scale study<\/a>, done collaboratively with the Native Women\u2019s Shelter of Montreal, strongly suggests the limits of the colonial state\u2019s system, favouring instead the empowerment of Indigenous communities. We interviewed lawyers, social workers and judges who have worked with Indigenous families to hear their views on the experience for Indigenous parents. The shelter suggested that we speak with experienced professionals, because it was interested in their views on possible improvements to legal procedures. Hearing directly from Indigenous parents would be another valuable initiative.<\/p>\n

Stealing \u201cIndian\u201d human rights in 2021<\/a><\/p>\n

The long history of discrimination against First Nations children<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our participants cast Indigenous parents\u2019 dealings with child welfare and the youth courts in overwhelmingly negative terms. They work in a system that they concede to be broken and harmful. They spoke about child welfare\u2019s colonial impact and Indigenous parents\u2019 feelings of defeat, shame and mistrust when dealing with it.<\/p>\n

One of the lawyers we interviewed (we provided all participants with anonymity) said mistrust is still present despite widespread talk about reconciliation, forgiveness and making amends: \u201cIt\u2019s like it\u2019s too little, too late,\u201d the lawyer said. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge mistrust of the white person, there\u2019s a huge mistrust of the system, there\u2019s a huge mistrust of social workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mistrust also emerged on the part of potential fosterers. Our participants raised the potential gains of placing children in Indigenous foster families and giving authority to run child welfare to Indigenous communities. Although \u201cplac[ing] a child in a white foster family is terrible,\u201d the lawyer said there are severe obstacles in recruiting foster families from Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

A social worker we interviewed reported that \u201ca lot of times people are, like, I would love to foster but I just don\u2019t want to have the involvement of DYP [the director of youth protection] in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviews proved consistent with observations that Indigenous families who are engaged with the system often feel as though their experiences, perspectives and needs are given less credence than those of the state\u2019s social workers.<\/p>\n

Another lawyer said they feel often that the Indigenous parents \u201cdon\u2019t really know how to testify\u201d or \u201chow to explain themselves.\u201d It was observed that the mothers rarely \u201cfeel confident enough to explain their point of view\u201d in front of the judge.<\/p>\n

A third lawyer made the observation that \u201cbecause of the history,\u201d Indigenous parents experience difficulties in \u201c[f]inding their voice\u201d when dealing with the judicial system and the DYP. This was supported in another interview with a lawyer who underscored the challenge of informing Indigenous clients about the functioning of the judicial system; translation falls short when the destination language has no words for elements of the civil system. As one of the interviews suggested, there was a perceived sense of defeat that, no matter what some parents said, the government (or courts) would take their child.<\/p>\n

Our participants also commented on state workers\u2019 ignorance of Indigenous family practices and the ongoing harms of settler colonialism. It was observed that judges \u2013 \u201cpredominantly white, upper-middle-class men\u201d \u2013 would benefit from several sessions of training about Indigenous Peoples. One of the interviews suggested that social workers should adopt a broader \u201cnotion of the group, the culture, the collectivity and the immediate extended family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Revisiting the \u201cSixties Scoop\u201d of Indigenous children<\/a><\/p>\n

Colonial policies deny internet to many Indigenous communities<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The recommendation we heard most frequently was for more training about Indigenous Peoples. But a critical literature on professional education \u2013 developed in the health sciences \u2013 cautions that such training has limited capacity to change institutions substantially. Teaching about matters such as how to read an Indigenous person\u2019s avoidance of eye contact might help professionals to receive Indigenous parents\u2019 testimony more fairly.<\/p>\n

But it is unclear how much greater knowledge of Indigenous family practices, including the extended family\u2019s role, would change decision-making within the state system. Realistically, what is the potential impact of training in an underfunded, overstretched system? One participant\u2019s nod toward a three-hour online module indicates the scale of training that some would envisage for overworked professionals. While those we interviewed may have been sincere in recommending more training, the repetition of this suggestion gave it an air of performance.<\/p>\n

A focus on more professional training shelters the institutions in question from fundamental disruption. While recommendations focused on adjustments to individual conduct \u2013 on the part of state personnel and Indigenous parents \u2013 structural and fundamental changes seem necessary.<\/p>\n

The study arguably reinforces calls not to fix the colonial system but instead to transfer authority over child welfare to Indigenous communities. Ultimately, the reasons for skepticism in respect of incremental improvements within the state\u2019s system of child welfare confirm the urgency of empowering and equipping Indigenous communities to manage this critical area. It will be essential to have more research on outcomes from those Indigenous communities that do so, given the unavoidable challenge of contending with intergenerational trauma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent reminders of the over-representation of First Nations children in child welfare services and of those services\u2019 shortcomings and harms have come from the courts, a public inquiry in Quebec and Parliament. At the same time, jurisdictional wrangling persists about who should be running such services, with Quebec and Ottawa disputing how much authority can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":280584,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T03:53:43Z","apple_news_api_id":"680e8a90-5e1a-46fa-84df-7ff99d233be3","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T03:53:43Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AaA6KkF4aRvqE33_5nSM74w","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9380,9357,9372],"tags":[],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4371,4251],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-270242","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autochtones","category-politiques-sociales","category-recent-stories-fr","irpp-category-autochtones","irpp-category-politique-sociale"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nTransfer authority of child welfare to Indigenous communities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2022\/04\/transfer-authority-of-child-welfare-to-indigenous-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transfer authority of child welfare to Indigenous communities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recent reminders of the over-representation of First Nations children in child welfare services and of those services\u2019 shortcomings and harms have come from the courts, a public inquiry in Quebec and Parliament. 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