Canadian First Nations Child Welfare Care Policy: Managing Money in "Ottawapiskat"
The inter-generational loss of Indigenous identity in Canada has been a result of Canadian Aboriginal policy in the past and present. The policies of the residential school era and the policies of today’s child welfare system lead to similar outcomes, particularly governmental determination of how the next generation of First Nations people are affected by the state. By 1997-1998, the Department of Indian and Native Affairs reported that First Nations child and family services were administering services to 70% of children on reserves, and that number was projected to increase to 91% by 2002. In 1940 when the residential school system was still in full use, there were almost 8,000 children in the schools across the country; compare that statistic to the year 2002 when there were over 22,500 First Nations children in the child welfare system, showing a progression of almost three times the number living in state care. The numerous social problems resulting from poverty are re-enforced by the Federal Government’s policy decision to neglect taking action despite their own commissions and research data. Procedural problems in child welfare administration arise due to government jurisdictions, which will also be discussed.
La plus ça change, la plus ça reste la même: An analysis of violence and conflict in Indigenous-Canadian government relations, and missing and murdered Indigenous women
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the Canadian government’s stance on addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and to perform an analysis of ongoing violence and asymmetric conflict in Indigenous-Government of Canada relations. The Canadian government’s approach in regards to holding a national inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada was placed into the broader context of Indigenous peoples in Canada in order to understand the logic behind the government’s refusal and response. This was done by performing a deductive thematic analysis on gathered discourse and developed context, drawing the applied themes from the forms of violence outlined in Galtung’s violence triangle. As the results of the analysis indicated the clear presence of violence, both in the situation of missing and murdered Indigenous women as well as the broader context of relations, Galtung’s conflict triangle was employed to understand the significance of this violence. From this secondary analysis it was concluded that the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, as well as the government’s response, constitutes just one event in a much larger ongoing full conflict in Canada based on the underlying logic of settler colonialism and territorial gain.
Child welfare : connecting research, policy, and practice
In 1994 a group of researchers and decision makers met to discuss the state of child welfare. Also present were a few practitioners and two youth in care. Six years later, when they met again, the number of practitioners and youth had grown considerably and were joined by a strong contingent of foster parents. Thus the findings and insights presented were affirmed or challenged by those most affected -- those on the front line. It was an exciting event, worth capturing in book form. Kathleen Kufeldt and Brad McKenzie have gathered the papers presented at the 2000 Symposium and have organised them under four themes: incidence and characteristics of child maltreatment; the continuum of care; policy and practice; and future directions. An analysis and synthesis of the work informs each of these themes, while an eight-point research agenda developed in an earlier symposium is used to assess developments to date and provide guidance for the future.