THUNDER BAY – Orange Shirt Day, observed annually in Canada on September 30th, serves as a poignant reminder of the painful legacy of residential schools and intergenerational residential school along with the ongoing struggles faced by Indigenous communities.
It is a day to honor the survivors, remember those who did not return, and commit to meaningful action towards reconciliation.
While Orange Shirt Day is a crucial step in raising awareness, it is essential to recognize that the phrase “Every Child Matters” must hold true every day of the year.
The alarming number of Indigenous children in care, particularly within Indigenous child welfare agencies, underscores the urgent need for systemic change. Think of this, in Canada every Indigenous person is impacted as a result of Canada’s Residential School policy. Children ripped from their families, taken to distant communities, stripped of their hair, their language and their culture and taught that their traditional ways of life were wrong and evil. Those children grew up and lost the connections to their grandparents and parents in many cases, sadly far too many as we are learning today died and were buried in unmarked graves. Their abilities as parents suffered. Today we see many who have still not recovered. The issue sadly also, seems to be continuing with child welfare in many cases being the ‘New Residential School’.
Senator Murray Sinclair said that, “The new monster is in child welfare”.
It is key that changes that put positive results into families be paramount going forward.
Healing Families, Not Separating Them
The primary focus of child welfare agencies must be refocused on the critical need for healing and supporting families, not separating the children from family, or putting them in hotels, and investigations that keep them apart when time is of sacredness.
Indigenous communities have long emphasized the importance of kinship ties and the role of extended family in raising children.
Yet, far too often, the child welfare system prioritizes apprehension and foster care over providing the necessary resources and support to keep families together. This is wrong on so many levels, and needs immediate change.
It is imperative that child welfare agencies, in collaboration with First Nation leadership, and grassroots families, adopt a far more culturally sensitive and trauma-informed approach to child welfare. This includes:
- Prioritizing prevention and early intervention: Investing in programs that strengthen families and address the root causes of child welfare concerns, such as poverty, addiction, and intergenerational trauma.
- Providing culturally relevant and accessible services: Ensuring that families have access to culturally appropriate mental health supports, parenting programs, and other resources that promote healing and well-being.
- Empowering communities: Supporting First Nations in developing and delivering their own child welfare services, grounded in their cultural values and traditions.
- Empowering families: Having a meaningful and timely means of resolving complaints and concerns in an impartial and non-adversarial way, involving community traditional elders, possibly chosen at AGM’s so the rights of the family and children must be the top priority.
- Empowering Front Line Workers: Front line workers face a stressful job that places them in the position of making recommendations based on their observations. Managers must realize that their job in many cases is supporting their social workers. Far too often workers have, in off-record discussions, expressed enormous frustration in not being allowed to to their jobs due to micromanagement by supervisors.
- Addiction Issues: Alcohol and drugs along with poverty are often contributing factors in the breakdown of families. Child welfare workers and supervisors need some upgraded and up-to-date training on recognizing the symptoms of alcohol and drug impairment. There are frontline Child Welfare workers who remain unable to recognise impairment from drugs or alcohol. That means treatment opportunities is being missed too. It needs to change.
- Recognizing the rights of grandparents: Grandparents play a vital role in Indigenous families, yet their rights are often overlooked in child welfare proceedings. Agencies must prioritize kinship placements and ensure that grandparents have a voice in decisions affecting their grandchildren. This would be in keeping with traditional Indigenous family ways.
Real Action, Every Day
Reconciliation requires more than just words and gestures; it demands concrete action and a commitment to addressing the systemic inequalities that continue to plague Indigenous communities.
On Orange Shirt Day, and every day, let us remember the children who were lost, honor the survivors, and work tirelessly to create a future where every Indigenous child is safe, loved, and supported within their families and communities.
Importantly, collectively let us realize that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Child welfare agencies, their executive directors, managements, and First Nation board members of those agencies should be taking this message to heart and working harder everyday to unit and heal.
“Every Child Matters” is not just a slogan; it is a call to action that must be answered every day of the year.
James Murray