Federal Government Passed Legislation Respecting Indigenous Children And Peoples To Make Their Own Decisions

On June 21, 2019 the historic Child & Family Welfare Law was proclaimed. The legislation, Bill C-92, would ensure that Indigenous governments laws have more power than other levels of government including provincial and federal law. Now the Federal Child Welfare Reform legislation (C-92) was passed and it will come into force in its entirety on January 1, 2020.

For over 20 years in Manitoba; NDP and Conservatives Provincial governments took more children into the child welfare system than at any point during the height of the Indian Residential School era. Many representatives were quiet about this and never advocated to make any changes.

Indigenous peoples and families have been demanding change. After years of work the federal Liberal government passed legislation in 2019 that will give control of the CFS system to Indigenous nations. Former MP Robert Falcon Ouellette said “the goal is to see successful children, families, and communities. This legislation will ensure Indigenous people are looking after their own children. The government can never be a good parent and love a child, only families can do that, let’s support those families.”

It was reported that there are 11, 000 children in care in Manitoba and a new born is taken everyday from their family. A Health Sciences Centre study found that 87% of those taken was due to issues related to poverty not abuse. The Federal Liberal MP Marc Miller & the Minister of Indigenous Services said “Now the task for the next four years is to ensure that Indigenous Nations have jurisdiction and more importantly we keep families together and functional & with funding to make this work.”

The federal government has stepped in because of the inability of provincial governments to deal in a good way with Indigenous peoples. All Canadians are impacted when children are taken. The Homelessness census of Manitoba found that 50% of the homeless in Winnipeg were in CFS.

Miller added “If we invest in our children we can make a difference to the future of our nations and communities. I would also like thank the families who are foster families and helping care for children. These families are offering their love, care and protection to children, and they need to be recognized for their efforts.”Reply Forward