Touchstones is a set of policies and a comprehensive step by step approach to attain reconciliation by promoting truth-telling, acknowledging inequities, restoration, and long-term dialogue. Martin, who retired from federal politics in 2008, founded the Martin Family Initiative to help improve elementary and secondary education in First Nations communities.

Many First Nations communities now suffer from endemic social issues, including substance abuse and high drop out rates.

The outrage of a moral man reverberates more than a century later in his letters of protest to church officials. Touchstones’ uses a train-the-trainers model: In 2009, 30 trainers were trained across the country to facilitate workshops. The federal government spent $707,000 fighting the case. Clicking "Decline" may cause parts of this site to not function as expected. Federal and provincial governments allocate fewer financial and human resources to its most marginalized population: First Nations communities receive at least 22 percent less child welfare funding than other Canadians and $2,000 to $3,000 less elementary and secondary education funding per student. Prior to developing a strategy, she completed a 6-month field study to understand the expectations of First Nations communities regarding the health of their families. The federal government has known about the over-representation of Indigenous children in care since at least 1977, and about the conditions on First Nations reserves and in Inuit communities for much longer than that. Far from basking in her success, she worries that history will repeat itself. “I walked in the civil rights marches. And yet, there is a hole in her own life. And every government that preceded ours should have done more. Cindy Blackstock, Nico T rocm ... children and families receiving child welfare services (Blackstock, Clarke et al. She also convinced the General Auditor of Canada, Sheila Fraser, to do her own research on the allocation of resources to Aboriginal communities and she came to the same conclusions as Cindy. Unanimously passed in Parliament in 2007, it was named for Jordan River Anderson, a Cree from Norway House, Man., who died in hospital at 5 while Manitoba and Ottawa were fighting over his care. Coming Thursday: In part five, a look at B.C.’s response to the crisis — and what Indigenous communities think of it. In total, more than 200 people, representing the government (i.e. The class action has not yet been certified. All Her raw work tells aboriginal truths, including looks at housing conditions at northern Ontario’s Attawapiskat (The People of the Kattawapiskak River, 2012) and adolescent suicide (Richard Cardinal: Cry From a Diary of a Métis Child, 1986). She is also a professor for the School of Social Work at McGill University. “Ultimately my goal was the elimination of the Indian Act and its replacement by self-government dealing with all of these issues, beginning with health care and education, and child welfare.”. The Tribunal has taken under reserve a final determination of the definition of First Nations child for Jordan's Principle and compensation for victims of Canada's discriminatory conduct.

Cindy Blackstock OC FRSC is a Canadian-born Gitxsan activist for child welfare and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. And six years since the federal government had delegated responsibility — but not funding — for on-reserve social services to the provinces.

Cindy Blackstock OC FRSC is a Canadian-born Gitxsan activist for child welfare and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. She then co-created the Caring for First Nations Children Society to lead her movement for social reconciliation of First Nations and non First Nations communities. Jan. 26, 2016: The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, rules Ottawa racially discriminated against children on reserves by spending less on child welfare. She knows she has to keep fighting hard to see concrete results. ... Child Welfare and Pandemics Literature Scan. She’s covered education, youth and housing issues for a decade now, and we’re lucky to have her.

With this research, Cindy developed a curriculum for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal social workers which is now part of the official program for any social worker dedicated to child protection in the province of British Columbia. The privacy commissioner ruled the government went too far in surveillance that included her Facebook and Twitter accounts, and ordered it to cease. He had every chance to change things. “The position that I took was to say to them, look, I’m going to call a federal-provincial conference and we are going to work with you,” Martin said of his message to the Indigenous leaders. The case took nine years, in part due to the number of appeals and roadblocks the government of Canada threw up to delay or dismiss the case. Being a witness means that people/organizations agree to follow the case, listening carefully to both sides, and decide for themselves whether the government of Canada is treating First Nations children fairly. Blackstock understands that in her gut.

Chair Chotalia released her ruling[13] in March 2011 dismissing the child welfare case suggesting that the CHRA required a mirror comparator group and child welfare services funded by the Federal Government for First Nations could not be compared to services provided to all others by the provinces and territories. This creates an environment where participants are free to express their opinions and develop reconciliatory solutions while not being bound by mandate and policy or tribal protocol.

March 22: The Liberal budget allots $ 8.4 billion over five years to First Nations to bring about “transformational change.” Of this money, $2.6 billion goes to improving primary and secondary education on reserves, $965 million for school infrastructure and $635 million towards child and family services programs. The ruling also orders implementation of “Jordan’s Principle,” which says care for the child first and fight over who should pay later. Among those who are, they generally do not have the power to change things. It is as much about public education and awareness raising, as it is about changing policy. The court case and Blackstock's role is the subject of a 2016 documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice, which had its world premiere on September 13 at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Cindy also created conditions to implement the historic Jordan’s Principle, named after Jordan River Anderson, a young Cree boy who died in hospital at the age of five while the provincial and federal governments argued over who should pay for his in-home care. Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the AFN (co-complainant in the human rights case) calls it a “significant first step.” Blackstock says the budget falls “far short” of what is required to meet the human rights ruling. Both Martin and Blackstock agree that alleviating poverty, poor housing and infrastructure issues and improving education in Indigenous communities would go a long way to reducing the number of children in care. On April 18, 2012, the Federal Court ruled[16] that further scrutiny is needed to determine whether Ottawa is discriminating against First Nations children on reserves by underfunding child welfare services, and ordered the Tribunal to hold a new hearing on the case. If Cindy wins the court case, the government of Canada will have to address the funding inequities brought forward which ties in directly with the bigger vision, developed through the Touchstones process. ), “I would be crying and my mom would say, ‘You need to stand up for yourself’ … I think that was really the difference for me … I thought, ‘I am going to walk with my head up.’”, That difference, followed by career opportunities, gave her another advantage.

Dr. Cindy Blackstock is creating new pathways for equity on behalf of First Nations children and families and holding Canada to account for racist, colonial policies. For her, the process is more important than the results. The agreement, reached with Indigenous leaders, the provinces and territories, would have seen $10 billion in federal funding spent over 10 years on Indigenous health and education. Especially for children. In the wake of this long policy (i.e. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star In 2009 and 2010, 500 people participated in the program and 40 communities nationwide, in urban and remote areas, were offered the opportunity to implement this reconciliation approach. Martin maintains the crisis for Indigenous children and families would be over if the new Conservative government hadn’t killed the Kelowna Accord in 2006. But Blackstock became the symbol of this nine-year battle, for which she paid a high personal price. “I was not comfortable with that because I saw irrevocable harms happening for these kids and their families every day, and it was owing to the fact that, you know, these families were not getting an equitable chance to stay together.”. She’s creating a totally different — decolonized — mindset that values true equality of funding, education and service for all kids, without exception. “We have got to get the educational, health and economic outcomes for these children improved,” Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett says after the tribunal ruling. Cindy Blackstock is a successful person by any measure.

He languished in hospital for two years while the federal and Manitoba governments fought over who should pay for his home care services. The price tag for Blackstock was the loss of privacy. She is learning how to fly, which she says gives her the free space she needs to consider and solve problems.

Privacy But five days later, Martin’s minority Liberal government fell. “I think it was a lack of awareness. A string of governments, including those of Lester Pearson, Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Joe Clark, failed to make any moves toward fully funding services for Indigenous communities or to stem the flow of their children into the child welfare system. In British Columbia, the provincial government adopted this program in their practices to address First Nations issues. Jordan’s Principle: Canada’s broken promise to First Nations children? in the ‘60s, Cindy experienced racism from people who mistook the dramatic symptoms of government oppression as racial inadequacy. “But that was only the beginning,” Martin said. In additiion, she disseminates First Nations knowledge (scientific and non-scientific) to spread awareness and build an action-focused movement through an online journal and nationwide awareness campaigns, such as “Seven Ways to Make a Difference” and “Be a Witness.” Cindy is thus building the empathetic social fabric needed to pave the way toward equity. K2P 0G5. But his 1995 budget did cap annual increases for First Nations services at two per cent, despite inflation, a growing population and a desperate need for improvements to housing, education, health care and infrastructure on reserve. The Federal Court ruling cleared the way for a differently constituted panel at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to conduct a full hearing on the discrimination matter. This is a true example of reconciliation. The deal, reached after 18 months of negotiations with the leaders and provinces and territories, included $5 billion over the first five years to improve Indigenous health care and education. Rather than creating direct programming, FNCFCS developed a national approach to child welfare program development, Touchstones of Hope.