Cindy Blackstock: “It’s shocking to me that we had to bring the case to court in the first place” April 21, 2012 Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn Email The Vice-President (Communications) for the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission, Kevin Seesequasis had the opportunity today to speak with Cindy Blackstock, Child Advocate and Executive Director at the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada regarding the Federal Court’s ruling on First Nation Child Welfare Wednesday. Here’s what she had to say: KS: Thank you very much Dr. Blackstock for taking time out of – what I’m sure is a very, very busy day – to speak with the APC. I wanted to congratulate and thank you for your efforts in child advocacy and for your specific role in bringing this case to where it is today. You must be completely overjoyed! CB: I’m absolutely overjoyed! It’s a great day for First Nation children, and it’s a great day for all Canadians who believe that no child should be left behind because of their race. KS: It is a great day indeed! For those people who don’t really have an understanding of what you’re doing, or your organization, could you provide us with some background information about the FNCFCSC and how this you got to where you are in terms of this case? CB: The Caring society was developed by a group of First Nation child welfare agencies practicing all over the country. We felt there wasn’t a national voice where we could share ideas… there was no common place for us to come together and tackle common issues, and one of the biggest issues was that the federal government was under-funding child welfare services on-reserve. We were seeing record numbers of First Nation children going into child welfare care, in our view, unnecessarily. As a result, the FNCFCSC was born and in 2005, we began conducting joint research with INAC, now AANDC. We brought in about 20 leading experts with many doctorate degrees in disciplines such as economics, psychology and child welfare. We found that the federal government was short-changing First Nation child welfare by approximately $109 million dollars, excluding Ontario and the territories. Our work was backed by the very best evidence and at that time, the government was running $14 billion dollar surpluses… and they walked away from the work we had done! We were left in a precarious situation; we kept thinking ‘what do we do about this’, it was the children who were suffering. We had reached a point in our work where we had documented the inequality, we had worked on the solution jointly to address the inequality, and the thing is, it was affordable. It was such a minor cost to the government, and they still weren’t willing to do it! In 2007, we had got to the point where we thought we had to take some drastic action and we began preparing the file with the Human Rights Commission against the Government of Canada alleging that they were racially discriminating against children by under-funding child-welfare services on-reserve. KS: You spoke about – how in 2006 – the government walked away. It is something that made me immediately think about Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Kelowna Accord and the $100 million dollars for children, the $1 billion for housing, and the $1.3 billion dollars for health. Do you feel that the money earmarked in the Kelowna Accord would have negated the need for the legal action against the government? CB: In my understanding of the Kelowna Accord, it certainly would have provided relief on the issues that drive First Nation children into welfare care: poverty, poor housing, and substance abuse. What concerned me when the government killed Kelowna was that it didn’t propose another solution! Here we are, some 6 years later and the children are still suffering, and there’s still no solution. I always say that a year in the life of lawyers and government officials may not be too long, but a year in the life of a child is monumental- we cannot wait a minute to ensure that First Nation children have the same opportunities as their fellow Canadians. KS: Speaking of equal opportunities, the government tried to block the case saying that it wasn’t fair to compare federal services to provincial services. Can you expand upon why you think the government took that stance? CB: It’s shocking to me that we had to bring the case to court in the first place. Second, it’s been very disturbing to see that the government has been fighting so strenuously against having this case heard on it’s facts. It raises an important question: “What are they trying to hide from?” They’ve been pursuing legal loop holes and delay tactics one after one another, and more than that, they’ve been putting their own interests ahead of vulnerable children. The argument that they’re using is not ‘are these children are being racially discriminated against and thus going into child welfare unnecessarily?’, but rather the government is asking ‘is it fair for the federal government to be compared against the provincial governments in providing the same services?” That’s nonsense to me. Kids are kids. The federal government has an international, legal, and moral obligation to make sure every child counts and that there’s an equitable investment in all children. KS: You spoke about international obligations, does the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples come into play here? CB: It does come into play. As well as a whole series of binding agreements that Canada has signed over the years dating back to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Certainly the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was signed in 1992… requires that Canada not discriminate in the delivery of services. We have the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which says the same thing- you cannot give people less because of their race, and yet regardless of all the conventions that Canada has agreed to uphold, they’re fighting in the courts to perpetuate a regime where First Nation children get less because of who they are. KS: Moving away from the rights-based aspect of discussion, there are people who don’t necessarily know a lot about First Nation child welfare, could you provide some general insight and maybe a few important things we all should know? CB: Well child welfare is really about providing protection for children. Providing them the supports they need to live with their family in ideal circumstances. In the vast majority of situations, that can be safely accomplished. There are situations where children do need to be removed for their own safety on a temporary basis- until the family situation can be addressed. On reserve, provincial child welfare laws apply to First Nation agencies with the federal government providing the funding. As we discussed earlier, the federal government does so – to a far less level – making it much more difficult for agencies to provide the supports families need to keep children in their homes. As a result, today, we have 3 times the number of First Nations kids in child welfare than when we did during the residential schools era. KS: Speaking of Residential Schools, do you think that First Nation children in-care will suffer the same effects that Residential School survivors cope with today? CB: Well, there are lots of parallels, for example many children are placed in non-Aboriginal families away from their communities and suffer cultural-dislocation. We looked into Canada’s documents that we’ve received through Access to Information and the government says that they understand that they’re under-funding First Nation child welfare resulting in growing numbers of children in-care; they go on to further explain that they’re concerned that when these children grow up, they’ll come knocking at the door of the federal government wanting some sort of financial compensation because they were abused or neglected in child welfare care. So, it really paints a picture for Canadians that the government knows what it is doing is wrong, and that it’s harmful. Instead of addressing these issues, they’re trying to protect themselves. KS: Looking forward now, what does Wednesday’s announcement mean for First Nation children in-care, and where do you go from here? CB: Well, it means that First Nation children will finally get their hearing in court. That’s hoping that the federal government doesn’t appeal and try and drag out the process more. Assuming they don’t, it would mean that all the evidence would be put out for Canadians before the courts and perhaps we’ll finally get the justice and equality these children deserve. It’s been delayed now for the last 5 years. In terms of process, we are planning for the hearing on the facts and we’ve got meetings with our legal counsel. We want to create a social movement in Canada among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people so that – regardless of what government is in power – understands that this type of inequality is no longer socially, or politically viable in the Canada of today. KS: What can Canadians do to bring awareness to your cause at the grassroots level? CB: We’ve got a website called fnwitness.ca that has all of the court documents regarding this case. We invite all people to visit the site and sign up to be a witness – it takes less than 2 minutes and is absolutely free – in doing so, we’re not asking you to take our side, we’re simply asking you to watch. Watch what’s happening here and – for yourself – decide whether the Canadian government is doing the right thing for Canadians and the right thing for First Nation children in this court case. There are nearly 10,000 people who’ve committed to being a witness making it one of the most-watched cases in Canadian legal history! KS: Yes, I was just on the site, it’s fantastic to see so much support for what you’re doing! CB: It’s really heartwarming to see, and the other thing to note is that when we filed the federal court case, we lost all government funding. So if people are able to make a donation so that we can continue to work on behalf of children, that is always greatly appreciated. We’re a small organization of only 4 people so we’re able to keep over-head costs low, and positive outcomes for kids high! KS: Any last words for our readers? CB: We’ve been so overwhelmed by the support of non-Aboriginal children. They’ve been writing letters, coming to rallies, talking to their friends and family, and really educating us all on the lack of fairness for First Nation children. Children know love and fairness in a way that adults have forgotten. For example, on February 14th, we had between 5 and 600 children from every cultural and spiritual group out in front of parliament saying that now is the time for fairness. Kids are really leading the way and showing us what reconciliation is about – the rest of us need to catch up to them! KS: I couldn’t agree more! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to discuss this very important issue with us. We’re committed to working to ensure equality for all children and that this issue receives the attention that it deserves. Congratulations and best wishes on your coming journey! CB: I really appreciate your efforts Kevin. Thank you for helping to create awareness on what we’re doing. I’m really encouraged that there is much more dialogue about this issue. Take care! – 30 – To view Dr. Carolyn Bennett‘s (Liberal Aboriginal Affairs Critic) statement on the ruling, click here. For more information regarding the Federal Court’s decision, please contact: Cindy Blackstock, PhD Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada Ph: (613) 230-5885 ext. 222 or Email: cblackst@fncaringsociety.com For more information on the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission, please contact: Kevin Seesequasis Vice-President (Communications) Contact Us *Note 1: Participation in this interview does not imply affiliation to or endorsement of any political party or entity* *Note 2: Interview was published in the language it was conducted*