For decades, Canada has marketed itself as a country that values human rights, equality, and reconciliation. So, let's shift the conversation from clean drinking water—an issue that still plagues many Indigenous communities—to the reality of Indigenous children in the foster care system, it becomes glaringly obvious that not much has changed since the days of residential schools.
Let’s call it what it is: a continuation of state-sanctioned child apprehension, dressed up in the language of “child welfare.” The government removed Indigenous children from their families under the guise of education in residential schools, and now they are taken under the pretense of “protection.” But the outcome remains disturbingly similar—displacement, loss of culture, and generational trauma.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Indigenous children make up more than 50% of the kids in Canada’s foster care system, despite Indigenous people accounting for less than 8% of the country’s population. In some provinces, the situation is even worse. These children are often placed in non-Indigenous homes, severed from their culture, language, and community—mirroring the forced assimilation policies of the past.
The justification? Poverty, lack of access to services, and so-called "neglect." But let’s be real—these are systemic issues created by colonial policies, not failures of Indigenous parenting. The same government that ripped children from their homes in the past is the one that underfunds Indigenous communities today, creating the very conditions it then punishes them for.
Foster Care Isn’t “Saving” Our Kids
Many Indigenous children in care face abuse, neglect, and instability within the system itself. They are more likely to age out into homelessness, incarceration, or addiction. The cycle doesn’t end when they turn 18—it continues in different forms, feeding into intergenerational trauma that began with residential schools and the Sixties Scoop.
And yet, Canada has the audacity to apologize for past injustices while perpetuating the same practices under a different name. It’s a well-rehearsed performance—acknowledge, apologize, make promises, then continue with business as usual.
Real Change Requires More Than Empty Promises
If Canada is serious about reconciliation, it needs to start by returning control of child welfare to Indigenous communities. Funding must be directed toward keeping families together, not toward maintaining a system that profits from Indigenous suffering.
Indigenous children deserve to grow up with their families, in their communities, surrounded by their culture—not shuffled through a system that was never built to protect them. The conversation needs to shift, and it needs to happen now. Because while politicians talk about reconciliation, another Indigenous child is being taken from their home—and history is repeating itself before our eyes.
It’s time to break the cycle.
🦅❤️🖤💛🤍🪶
Niawen'kó:wa & Chi-miigwech
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