This is international children's week. They deserve not just one week but all year. You can be the first generation of people who don't have to apologize to Indigenous, Metis, and Inuit children. For far too long, first nations children has received less. Every single child in this country deserves the money. All children count.
The Federal Government provides the funds for First Nations kids while Provinces and Territories fund everyone else. As a result, First Nations kids get less money for water, education, special education, recreation.
In addition, a critical missing area is you as charities. The number of charities providing support to First Nations is almost negligible. There is a housing crisis but how many charities are there to support housing for First Nations? Many people assume the opposite, instead understanding that First Nations get less, many think that having an "Indian card" gives lots of free perks.
When you think about charity, fundraising is valuable but what you need is one free way to make a positive change. Change is not about money. People need to bring an open heart, an open mind, and hands willing to change things.
In thinking about history, it is important to know that concerns about residential schools is not new. Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce was the founder of the public health code in Canada. People know nothing of him because he was erased for what he did to survey the health of kids in residential schools. He found there was a 66% death rate in residential schools. As a public health expert, Dr. Bryce found Canada was spending more on public health in Ottawa than to save the lives of all the kids in the residential system. The cost of these reforms was $10,000 - 15,000 which even back then was a drop in the bucket. His report was carried in major newspapers across the country.
Dr Bryce persisted but was opposed by Duncan Campbell Scott. While Bryce was being pushed out by the government, Scott was being honoured by the government and other major institutions. Dr Bryce made a choice for which he paid a price but Scott was rewarded for his cowardice. That lesson applies today. We need to have the moral courage to fight injustice at every point. The recommendations by Dr Bryce were echoed in 1967 report which was also ignored by the government.
Adults run government but kids are the best at reconciliation because little kids know when things are unfair. One heroic kid was a girl named Shannen. Her local school was closed because the school was on a Class One toxic waste site. The problem when First Nations kids get less, they get the wrong idea that they are worth less. While the kids were promised better than portables, nothing was happening. Shannen organized letter writing and finally took photos of the mould and bad conditions in her portable. Shannen loaded up a video on YouTube with a call to action. A kid in Toronto saw the video and wrote to the Prime Minister.
When this Grade 4 kid in Toronto got an inadequate response from the PM, the kid didn't strike a committee. She lined up her classmates and and had the teacher take a class photo. Shannen inspired the largest children's direct action campaign ever. At Shannen's first day in a high school outside her community, she had tears streaming down her cheeks and said,
Sadly, Shannen was killed in a car accident going home from school. She lost her life because she had to go to a school that was not in her home community. Her mission continues with other kids asking for equitable education. We need to remember that reconciliation is about never saying "sorry" twice.
On January 26, 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that Canada is discriminating against 167,000 indigenous children. So far there have been three noncompliance orders issued since that date. It is concerning that there are more kids now in foster care for the same reasons of poverty and inequity than were in the residential care system. We need to remember that reconciliation is about never saying "sorry" twice.
In order to really honour our legacies, we have to tell the truth. So today Duncan Campbell Scott has a monument that says "Poet and Cultural Genocide." It is not enough to only raise monuments. We have to change curriculum, we have to educate judges. When you educate children, you make the biggest difference.
As much as First Nations kids need you. You need First Nations kids. Every child that arrives deserves the money. We are the generation to make sure that indigenous children don't have to recover from their childhoods and that non indigenous children don't have to apologize.
Editor's note - This is a summary of comments made at the AFP Toronto Congress - any omissions are the fault of the editor and do not fully reflect the power of Dr Blackstock's message.
A member of the Gitksan First Nation, Cindy has 25 years of social work experience in child protection and Indigenous children’s rights. Her promotion of culturally based and evidence informed solutions has been recognized by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, the Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Frontline Defenders and many others. An author of over 50 publications and a widely sought after public speaker, Cindy has collaborated with other Indigenous leaders to assist the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in the development and adoption of a General Comment on the Rights of Indigenous children. You can learn more about Dr. Blackstock's work including ways to support reconciliation at fncaringsociety.com
