Canada: Stop Discrimination Against Indigenous Children

17 May 2007

ANDRE FORGET/AFP/Getty Images

The federal government has estimated that Indigenous children are three to five times more likely than any other children in Canada to be taken from their families and placed with foster parents or in state institutions. Indigenous child welfare advocates say the numbers are actually much higher.

The government has also acknowledged that one of the main reasons so many Indigenous children  on reserve are taken from their families is that there is less funding provided by government to keep Indigenous children safely in their homes as compared to non-Indigenous children.

In fact a report commissioned by the government found that  the funding it provides for Indigenous child and family services is on average at least 22% lower per child than what is provided for non-Indigenous children.

This is despite the higher costs of providing services in small and remote communities and the ongoing impacts of the residential school experience and other federal policies on the social life and economy of Indigenous communities.

Seven years ago, a  joint study by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Assembly of First Nations called for urgent action to close the discriminatory funding gap for Indigenous child welfare. In 2005 a second study was commissioned which found that the shortfall in federal child welfare funding amounted to $109 million per year.

The recommendations made in these reports have never been acted on and the numbers of Indigenous children being taken from their families continue to climb .

In response, the Assembly of First Nations has just launched a complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Commission. But it would be better if the government took action right away.

The federal government shouldn't wait for the Commission to tell it do the right thing. It should act immediately to end discrimination against Indigenous children