Websites to check out:
https://fncaringsociety.com/have-a-heart
https://fncaringsociety.com
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Letter template:
Dear ________,
Our names are ____ and we are people from ______. We are writing to you to ask that you treat First Nations children better. For this to happen, six things need to happen. First of all, child and family services working with First Nations families need to be adequately funded and they need to be unbiased. You have made some progress on this but it is not enough. You need to do more to ensure that First Nations children can stay with their families. Secondly, you need to make the process of accessing Jordan's Principle less cumbersome and more efficient, and ensure that all children everywhere who need services get them. Third, you need to improve social services on reserves, so that they are adequate and can meet all the needs of the people. Fourth, you need to fund all education on reserves as well as education off reserves is funded so that the services provided can be equal. Fifth, a cultural shift needs to be produced within Indigenous Services Canada so that the department can actually help Indigenous people instead of causing problems. Finally, children and adults who were mistreated by the Canadian government need to be reimbursed and to receive reparations.
As it is today, child and family services, like many other services, is deeply underfunded on reserves. This creates inequities and inequalities, and it is deeply unfair to First Nations communities. This absolutely needs to be changed.
It is imperative that child and family services for people living on reserves and for First Nations people are adequately funded. This is because, if these organizations are not well-funded, they cannot give the children and families what they truly need and instead end up taking children from their families, just because those families are poor or they need extra help in caring for their children.
Children need and deserve to be with their families, with the people who raised them, with the people who love them, with the people who they are bonded to. It is deeply traumatic to children and to their families if the bonds of love that they have formed are cut off. No child deserves to go through that.
Poor families love their children. Struggling families love their children. Families facing addictions or mental health issues love their children. Families with disabled caretakers love their children. Traumatized families love their children. Marginalized families love their children.
But Indigenous children are going through family separation at horrific rates. Indigenous children are twelve times more likely to be in foster care than settler children are. This is not because their families don't love them but rather because their loving families don't have the help and resources they need in order to care for their children the way that they want to.
It's good that your government is talking with First Nations in order to establish child and family services run by those nations. It is good because if the First Nations themselves run the services, it is less likely that there will be racism and bias within the system and the system will be more culturally appropriate.
This is a good step but it is not enough. And there are some dangerous failings in the plan as it is going so far.
First of all, the negotiations for transferring child and family services are conducted between First Nations and the Canadian government, and in this relationship, the Canadian government has much more power, which may lead to First Nations not being able to negotiate good deals. You must make sure that negotiations are happening fairly and equally so that First Nations can negotiate what they need.
Secondly, there must be adequate funding for child and family services run by First Nations. This means that instead of setting funding at the beginning of the inceptions of child and family service agencies, when the agencies don't actually know how much funding they will need, funding should be given on a needs-based basis until the agencies have at least ten years of experience and know what the needs of their community will be and therefore how much funding to ask for.
Another problem is that there are no binding agreements to adequately, equally, and equitably fund child and family services off reserve. This is a problem because there is a possibility that provinces will underfund child and family service agencies working with First Nations people off reserve and this will lead to children being taken away from their families.
Another problem is that the funding going to First Nations child and family service agencies under the new model that is being built will be split between Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and Indigenous Services Canada. This is unnecessary and will lead to jurisdictional disputes which will lead to inadequacies in funding. The money needs to all come from the same place in order for the system to be efficient, and the system can and must be efficient.
We need to make sure that the transition to First Nations-lead child and family service agencies is smooth and equitable. This means doing whatever is necessary to help the new child and family service agencies develop and to support children and families while they develop.
The federal government also needs to fund the construction of buildings for child and family services on reserves. As it is now, there are not enough buildings for child and family services, and this negatively affects the agencies' ability to do their work properly and leads to more children being taken from their families. You must create adequate buildings for child and family services.
Another problem is how in the new agreements, Jordan's Principle issues are going to be provided by the First Nations themselves. This is a problem because they very probably won't have enough money to provide Jordan's Principle services to every child. Therefore the federal government should continue to fund Jordan's Principle requests and services.
Speaking of Jordan's Principle, there are many problems with the implementation of Jordan's Principle throughout Canada. It is taking too long to send help for cases, especially urgent cases. The process is slowed down because too many invasive and unnecessary documents are being requested from families, and their service providers are not believed. Services are stalled when families have to needlessly reapply for the services they still need. Service providers aren't being reimbursed efficiently. Group requests are underfunded so that all kids who need to participate cannot do so. Denial letters are not specific enough for families to appeal. Funding is allotted by the fiscal year rather than the needs of the family. Funding is often inadequate or shaky. And in many regions many requests that should be approved are denied.
All of this is horrible and must stop. Jordan's Principal is meant to help ensure that children get the medical, psychological, cognitive, developmental, and social help that they need in order to thrive and be happy in their lives and to be treated equally by society at large. This is very important and thus it is very important that Jordan's Principle is implemented wholly, well, kindly, in good faith, and effectively for all First Nations children.
In order to implement Jordan's Principle properly these steps also need to be taken, in a addition to stopping the problems I have outlined above. Services need to be in the child's best interest, based on the needs of the child, family, and community. They need to take into account the child's community and be based on evidence and results. To help the transition to First Nations governance, a non-political secretariat needs to be introduced. Every child under the protection of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal needs to get the services they need. Staff should be trained on and made to apply the substantive equality lens and therefore know that supports under Jordan's Principle go beyond the normative standard. Staff need to also make sure they fill out request forms themselves and let families know that the staff are supposed to fill out request forms themselves. Staff need to receive Touchestones of Hope training. Service providers in the child's circle of care should be trusted. Requests need to be read carefully and children need to be given what they need, not cheaper alternatives. Group requests need to not be denied. And there needs to be more Jordan's Principle focal points so that they can do their job and not be swamped in work. The call centre for Jordan's Principle needs to be more well-funded and equipped to support everyone who needs it, and needs to be able to approve urgent requests. Also there needs to be an ombudsperson to help people with concerns about Jordan's Principle. Make sure that all these things get done.
Also, Jordan's Principle needs to be extended to post-majority youth as well. This is because youth aging out of Jordan's Principle still need help and do not know where to turn. Youth aging out of Jordan's Principle still need supports and often they have no supports. This is horrible and hurts their ability to live good, equal, and fulfilling lives. Therefore Jordan's Principle needs to be extended so that the transition into adulthood for youth is easier.
Jordan's Principle also needs to be extended to prenatal services as well, because the conditions in the womb and whether the parent and fetus get well taken care of really affects the health and life of the child after they are born. Therefore, in order to birth healthy and thriving First Nations children, we need to extend Jordan's Principle to prenatal services.
Because services for First Nations people are inadequate and underfunded, often, Jordan's Principle gets used to plug funding gaps both on and off reserves. If we truly, properly want to help children, families, and communities, we need to increase funding for social services. All public services are underfunded on reserves. This includes services for housing, addiction care, mental health support, clean water, utilities, youth programs, childcare, cultural support, welfare, and more. Because of this lack of social services, many children end up in foster care, away from their families, because their families don't have help in providing them the things that they need.
It's absolutely horrible and unfair that social services on reserves and for First Nations people are so underfunded. This is creating so many inequalities and inequities and it is creating, perpetuating, and deepening the generational trauma that First Nations are already having to deal with, that they shouldn't have to deal with. The lack of public services is causing so many problems for children and families and communities. And they deserve better. The people deserve better.
One area where the underfunding and inequity and inequality of social services is especially felt is in the services surrounding disability support. Disability supports are often unavailable or inadequate on reserves. Off reserves, supports are not often culturally competent.
Early childhood development supports are inadequate on reserves. Some children are even in foster care because it's the only way for them to access disability supports. Which is horrifying. Every child deserves to be with the loving family that they are bonded to.
It is deeply unfair that disabled children are not getting the help that they need. All children need to get the help that they need. This must stop now. And it's absolutely horrific that some kids are getting separated from their families just because they are disabled and their families cannot access resources. As a nation we absolutely must fix this, now.
We need to do better. For that, we must increase the quality and funding of all social services for First Nations people. We must also take additional steps. Canada must clearly disclose what it's doing for First Nations people, especially children and families, and how it's funding different services. Canada must also use the Consumer Price Index, which is accurate and evidence-based, to adjust for inflation on reserves and in different areas when funding services. There needs to be binding agreements that ensure that Canada provides enough funds. These and more are all steps that are necessary to address the funding shortfalls.
A service that is especially important to the health, wellbeing, and development of children, families, and communities is education. But this service, like all the others, is very inadequate and very underfunded on reserves.
Education is very important for children. It improves their mental health, it improves their cognitive health, and it helps them express themselves and live up to their full potential. It gives children confidence in themselves. And it gives them many opportunities in life so that they can make their communities better.
First Nations kids receive less educational funding than other children. This means that the education that they get is of less quality and they can learn less. Their rights to equality and health are being denied because their schools are less well-funded than schools for settler kids.
Schools need to be safe and comfy for children, and at this moment they are not safe and comfy for First Nations children.
Part of the reason why all this injustice is happening is because Indigenous Services Canada needs to have large culture shift. All the people working in Indigenous Services Canada need to be hired based on how much they care about truly helping and providing social justice for Indigenous people. The people in the organization need to receive trainings on how to best help Indigenous people and how to be culturally sensitive. The environment in the workplace right now is very anti-Indigenous, and focuses on helping the government have more money rather than helping the Indigenous people have better lives. A profound cultural shift needs to happen within the organization so that the organization instead focuses on helping Indigenous people lead good lives.
There are so many examples of children being mistreated by the Canadian government. The government needs to take steps to try to atone for all the horrible injustices that it caused. This means stopping all the inequities, inequalities, and cruelties that exist. It also means providing reparations for people who have been hurt.
First of all, we need to reunite all separated children with their families. Whether or not the children have grown into adults by now, we need to reunite all families that have been separated. Because people really desperately need their families and families really desperately need each other. The healing process of a family cannot begin until the family has been reunited. And all families deserve to heal.
Also, all children who have been treated unjustly, whether they have grown into adults or not, need to be given financial reparations for what they went through. This includes children who have received bad services as a result of funding inequities and inequalities, and it especially includes children who have been separated from their families. Not only is this a way to say sorry, but it is also something that will help people have more peace of mind and security as they try to heal from all the trauma they went through.
As you can see, a lot of things need to be done in order to ensure fair treatment for First Nations children, families, and communities. I hope that you do everything that is necessary in order to create true justice, equality, prosperity, and happiness for First Nations children, families, and communities, and that you do what is necessary to keep families together. Thank you for reading our letter and please, please act.
Sincerely,
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Send to:
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Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
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Chrystia Freeland
Deputy Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
chrystia.freeland@parl.gc.ca
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Carolyn Bennett
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca
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Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
jean-yves.duclos@parl.gc.ca
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Patty Hajdu
Minister of Indigenous Services
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
patty.hajdu@parl.gc.ca
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Karina Gould
Minister of Families Children and Social Development
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
karina.gould@parl.gc.ca
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Ahmed Hussen
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
ahmed.hussen@parl.gc.ca
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Marc Miller
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca
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And your MP
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