Amy BoughnerObviously the world’s attention is on the United States right now, where we are seeing children taken away from their parents and placed into a system from which they may never emerge. It’s horrifying, and I absolutely think we should be speaking out, educating ourselves about what’s actually happening and why, and calling on leaders to recognize the inhumanity of it all.
Meanwhile, I have also been trying to pay attention and trying to amplify the voices of people I see pointing out that the Canadian government is ripping Indigenous kids away from their families and putting them into a bad system every day.
Some research:
Nearly of all the foster children in the country are Indigenous, despite being only 7 per cent of the population.
Many First Nations kids are taken away from their families because of their living conditions – conditions on reserves that the federal government is in charge of fixing.
Both the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and the United Nations Special Rapporteur have acknowledge the crisis of human rights among the Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Please read anything by Cindy Blackstock, who has been fighting for the rights of these children for years. Read Seven Fallen Feathers. Read Indigenous Writes. Support Jordan’s Principle. Call attention to what this government has been doing for decades – residential schools are only the beginning. Reserves lack clean water, proper heating, good schools, mental health supports.
Demand action from your government to ensure that we don’t lose any more generations.
