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First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Association of Ontario

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First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Association of Ontario

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First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario

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Home | First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario

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The First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Association of Ontario is a subject association for First Nations, Métis and Inuit education in Ontario, Canada. We support and help all educators understand issues related to First Nation, Métis and Inuit Peoples in Canada as well as offer strategies for teaching this content to all learners.

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First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario

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In Our Words | First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario

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Produced by FNMIEAO in Association with Fresh Shift Productions Funded by: Ministry of Education The videos explore how the dispossession of land from Indigenous Peoples took place throughout what is now called Canada. These videos provide several perspectives through the personal narratives of Oneida and Anishinaabe Elders and recognized Knowledge Holders.

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Beyond 94- Graphics/Info for Calls to Action

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Beyond 94- Graphics/Info for Calls to Action

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Analysis:

In November 2018, Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott announced a plan to hand over control of child welfare services to Indigenous governments in an effort to reduce the number of Indigenous children in care.

A draft of the proposed Indigenous child welfare bill received negative reviews in February 2019 from First Nations representatives involved in co-development talks with Ottawa. In particular, there were concerns about jurisdiction and funding.

Bill C-92 An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families received royal assent June 21, 2019. It came into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, though it has been challenged by the province of Quebec.

The 2018 federal budget did commit to an increase in child welfare funding; however much of that money was already earmarked in a prior federal budget, and most of the funding is committed for the years beyond the 2019 federal election.

Regarding co-ordinated national assessments, the most recent assessment of neglect investigations was in 2008. Results specific to First Nations children were published in a 2011 report from the Assembly of First Nations. But there's not been any since then.

The 2008 study compiled data from 89 provincial, 22 First Nations and Urban Aboriginal and one Métis child welfare site.

At the time, the study concluded that the number of First Nations children who were removed from their homes was four times higherthan non-Indigenous children. (140 First Nations children per 1,000, versus 33 non-First Nations children per 1,000).

As of February 2018, a team of researchers from universities across Canada is preparing to launch an updated study of child abuse and neglect-related investigations involving Indigenous children.

The First Nations Incidence Study, tied to the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect, was to do data collection in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal provides up-to-date research on Canada's Aboriginal child welfare programs and policies, and includes research borne out of the different provinces and territories. But this portal is made up of a consortium of academic researchers and child welfare service providers, through the McGill Centre for Research on Children and Families. It is not a federal or provincial agency.

Regarding providing adequate resources, in the February 2018 federal budget, the government committed to invest $1.4 billion, spread out over six years, for First Nations Child and Family Services.

But much of that money was previously earmarked in the 2016 federal budget, where it committed $635 million, spread out over five years, ending in 2020-21.

The commitment came in response to a February 2018 non-compliance order, in which the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found the federal government was not adequately funding the agencies.

As a result, the federal government committed to "cover agencies actual costs for prevention, intake and investigation, legal fees, building repairs, among other things.

In January 2018, Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott held an "emergency" meeting with provincial and territorial counterparts, months after the 2016 Statistics Canada Census revealed Aboriginal children account for more than one-half (51.2 per cent) of all children aged four and under, in foster care.

According to an Indigenous Services news release, the two-day meeting, which included national Indigenous, Inuit and Métis leaders, resulted in the commitment of "six points of action"; one of which is to reform child and family services, "including moving to a flexible funding model."

No time frame was established to implement the six points of action.

While both the Canadian Association of Social Work Education and the Canadian Association of Social Workers officially declared their support for the Truth and Reconciliation's Calls to Action regarding Child Welfare, changes to policies and standards for professional training will not be implemented before 2019.

In June 2017, the board of directors for the Canadian Association of Social Work Education released a statement announcing their commitment to consider the Calls to Action when revising their policies and standards.

The CASWE is responsible for reviewing and accrediting Canadian university programs of social work education.

Their "Statement of Complicity and Commitment to Change" includes an acknowledgement of past and present social work practices that "have been and continue to be complicit in our colonial reality."

The statement includes a commitment to support Canadian schools of social work in revising "curriculum and pedagogy in ways that both advance the TRC recommendations and the overall indigenization of social work education."

CASWE President Dr. Susan Cadell told CBC News that while all of the 42 accredited schools of social work in Canada include some form of Indigenous history in their curriculum, it's not always mandatory.

"Schools have to have it, but how schools have it varies widely," Cadell said. "Some have courses that are optional, some have courses that are required."

The subject matter also varies from school to school, she said; there's no requirement to specifically include education about the history and impacts of residential schools.

Cadell says a committee has been created to take into consideration this and other TRC Calls to Action, when conducting the 2019 review of their curriculum and standards.

"[The TRC Calls to Action] are part of what's informing that process," Cadell said.

But Cadell warned it might be "unrealistic" to make such courses mandatory, because it might mean, in some cases, having to forfeit a different course more relevant to their area of interest.

As for the training of current social workers, the Canadian Association of Social Workers, which represents more than 17,000 social workers, told CBC News that "reconciliation is a priority."

Jan Christianson is the president of the board. In December 2017, a sub-committee began a two-year review of their national code of ethics and guidelines. Christianson said "reconciliation" is permeating that review and the TRC Calls to Action will inform revisions or changes to both their code of ethics and their practice.

In 2015, the government of the Northwest Territories expanded its mandatory training for all child protection workers; that training includes Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training and a presentation on the links between the residential school legacy and the child welfare system.

In March 2019, a $3.05 billion potential class action lawsuit was filed against the federal government for discriminating against First Nations children by underfunding on-reserve child welfare services.

In September 2019, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 to each child - the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act - who was apprehended or taken from their homes on reserve, no matter what the reason.

The order stems from the January 2016 tribunal ruling which said the government discriminated against First Nations children by underfunding on-reserve child welfare services.

The compensation order covers all children in the care of the on-reserve child welfare system at any point from Jan.1, 2006, to a date to be determined by the tribunal.

The federal government has applied for a judicial review and for a stay of the ruling.

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Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

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Analysis: In November 2018, Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott announced a plan to hand over control of child welfare services to Indigenous governments in an effort to reduce the number of Indigenous children in care. A draft of the proposed Indigenous child welfare bill received negative reviews in February 2019 from First Nations representatives involved in co-development talks with Ottawa.

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Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed as a means of reckoning with the devastating legacy of the residential school system. From 2008 to 2014, the commission heard stories from thousands of residential school survivors. In June 2015, it released a report that included 94 Calls to Action - instructions to guide governments, communities and faith groups down the road to reconciliation.