Child Welfare in Canada: A Critical Analysis of Indigenous Experiences

This research paper critically examines the child welfare system in Canada, with a specific focus on the experiences and challenges faced by Indigenous children. It delves into the historical context, including the legacy of residential schools and the Sixties Scoop, and how these systems have contributed to the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in care. The paper explores the contemporary issues, such as the impact of child removal on cultural identity, family structures, and community well-being. It analyzes the government's efforts, the legal and ethical considerations, and the ongoing debates surrounding the child welfare system. The essay highlights the need for culturally sensitive approaches and policies that address the unique needs of Indigenous children and families, advocating for systemic changes to ensure their safety, well-being, and cultural preservation. The paper emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context, the impact of past policies, and the need for reconciliation in the present day.

Child Welfare for Indigenous in Canada
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Child welfare in Canada
Canada is one of the best countries in the education sector for the world, and it has
been engaged in making the efforts for the development and wellbeing of the indigenous
since they came in touch. However, the question arises about the efforts made for the
education, welfare and development of the aboriginals and success of these efforts in present
time. Before getting in touch with the Europe and its tradition, aboriginals used to educate
their child and young by the method of their ancient beliefs. This method was traditional
teaching including the group teaching, rituals, traditional stories, demonstration, and religious
teaching. These concepts were used to deliver the information at home or at any open place
by singing or dancing and by representing the act of history. This research paper aims to
discuss the very serious contemporary issues related to the failure of the efforts made by the
Canadian government to develop the education and welfare of the aboriginals (Alohonso,
2020).
With the development of civilisation and introduction of the classroom method of
structured education reflected change in the aboriginal traditional teaching, these reforms
made the positive and negative impact over the community, and welfare activities introduced
the concept of residential schools and taking a kid far from their resident for the development.
Hence, this research paper will aim to make detailed discussion about the child development
and welfare system for the aboriginals in Canada. Thesis statement for the research paper will
be:
“Contemporary Issues – Many Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians say the
current child welfare program in Canada is just a continuation of the residential school
system, and more recently the Sixties Scoop. “
According to Raven Sinclair concept of child removal is being practices in Canada
since 1050, approximately five generations are facing the overrepresentation of children

Child welfare in Canada
welfare and education with the aim to fulfil the development of the indigenous children.
Author in this article focuses to examine the development of the welfare concept in the
country and to evaluate the outcomes since its implementation in the country. This article
states the child removal from home and sending the children to the adoption centres, in the
sixties scoop since 1950 affected the children from the indigenous community as they
become overrepresented in the country (Asfaw, McGee, & Christianson, 2019).
This article criticise the case of Racine v Woods (1983) based on the interest and
development perception of the child who is being transferred falls on the important grounds
as well. Author in his research includes legal and ethical aspects relating to the personal
interest of the child. Many challenges form the cultures and belief of the indigenous affected
the decision-making of the government to implement the concept and challenges faced in the
duration of the implementation of the aim of making the children of indigenous very well
established and maintained (CBC Radio, 2018).
Chapter 14 “Child Welfare” from the “Report of Aboriginal Justice inquiry of
Manitoba” detailed discussion of the steps taken by the government of Canada to provide
required special treatment for the children belonging from indigenous community in the
country. Re-examination of the welfare concept for the indigenous children deal that many
people compare the present programs of the development found as the child welfare and
justice systems as being inter-connected and interlinked. According to their views, the child
welfare system is not more than “outside” institute that disturbs their lives and civilizations.
Indigenous children departed from their families, communities, and societies, initially by the
residential school system and later by the child welfare system. Refection of the both systems
on the society was negative, both systems left the society of the indigenous community
challenged and damaged. This research reflect that indigenous face challenges to decide their
lives and way of their living according to their facilities and thinking, these two systems

Child welfare in Canada
affect their decision-making for the development of the children. Sending children to the
residential school or far from the families without their consent was step that damaged the
personal beliefs of the community over the government because these acts were ignoring
their personal beliefs and attributes with their children (McKenzie, Varcoe, Browne, & Day,
2016). Regular transmission of the children to the residential school raised the threat of losing
the original identity of the children. Indigenous are very rich in their culture, traditions,
beliefs and kinds of the languages they speak, changes in the atmosphere affects an individual
very deeply. This change was harmful for the ancient cultural identity and language of the
indigenous group and young people may break their contact with the language in new
development and welfare system (Green & Kesselman, 2011).
Many issues were found during the research of the child welfare system as;
The criminal justice system has deep relation with the past aspects of government-
Aboriginals. Analysis of the justice system for the indigenous communities is incomplete
without understanding the overwhelming result of the government-Aboriginals relations over
the, government policies, on Aboriginal families and implementation of any policy (Banting
& Myles, 2016). Many Aboriginal societies rank the existing child welfare practices as a
major unhelpful weakness communities, and cultures. The concept of the residential schools
at the initial stage was aimed to convert the aboriginals from their original belief to the new
beliefs, this resulted threat of disappearing of their original identity and welfare system was
risky to the indigenous.
According to Sinha and Kozlowski, Indigenous children are presently overrepresented
in out-of-home care in Canada; this spreads an ancient arrangement of child elimination that
originated with the housing school structure. The population of the indigenous contains three
separate groups: First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples as described in the Constitution Act

Child welfare in Canada
(1982). Child welfare system implemented in Canada found as the risky to cause issue to the
mental health of the children as given by the caregiver. According to the beliefs and practices
of the indigenous community, a child is essential to be nurture by the family in which he took
birth because they share an emotional bond with the child. Taking away for the development
is not ethical and against the development of the community as well. These challenges were
continuously growing for the government. This care sometimes represented as the second
phase of the residential schools (Sinha & Anna, 2013).
Concept of the indigenous welfare face issues in the implementation because many
people accept it as the replacement of the residential schools of the sixties scoop of 1966
(McKenzie, Varcoe, Browne, & Day, 2016).
Earlier to the mid-1960s, in Manitoba living on reserves, indigenous children have no
organised way to develop and provide the child welfare to these. In the year 1966, the
government of Manitoba and the federal government signed an agreement that providing for
the present Youngsters’ Assistance Societies of Central, Eastern, and Western Manitoba and
delivering the welfare system to these children. This arrangement was not covering the three
quarters band of the Manitoba (Sinclair & Dainard, 2016). Provincial child welfare
authorities would interfere only in emergency or “life and death” situations for the child
welfare services and this expansion of the child welfare services affected the overall
environment of the community in negative manner (MOCZULSKI, 2020). Most of the
welfare services were only planned, never implemented in the reality for the children,
caretaker of the children in the child welfare affected the children’s ancient culture to develop
the new culture, and adopting of the new concept opened the threat of disappearing their root
culture (Sinclair R. , 2016).

Child welfare in Canada
According to pivot legal society, In the case of Aboriginal mothers, stories of
government involvement in family life often go back generations (Sinha & Anna, 2013). This
was started by the innovation of the tem Sixties Scoop by Patrick Johnson, authored the
Native Children and the Child Welfare System 1983 report.
The Sixties Scoop mentions and represents a specific stage of a superior past, and an
obvious government policy, the exercise of eliminating Indigenous kids from their relatives
and into state care existed before with the residential school system in 1960. The radical
overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system faster in the 1960s,
when Indigenous kids were detained and occupied from their homes and located, into middle-
class Euro-Canadian families (Weaver, 2016). This overrepresentation remains today and still
making the situation challenging for the development of the children from the indigenous
families by reducing the importance of their values and beliefs. Ancient method of the
treatment of children in the ancient indigenous community based on making the children
connected to the land and religious beliefs development of the classroom concept affected the
learning of the children from the community (The Aboriginal Justice Implementation
Commission;, 2020).
According to Milloy, representation of the indigenous children as an issue of the
development and taking a step of residential schools for their well-being resulted as the
critical phase of the country. Miiloy in his research represents that he had never felt the life of
the residential school but his elders and grandparents reflected the storey of the residential
schools to him. These stories were full of the crisis and unsatisfied nature of the families
facing the fear of losing their children far from their holding and control. Child welfare was
over represented in the ancient and still it is being treated as the challenging for the
acceptance. This book deeply analyse the stories of the crisis and challenges represent in the

Child welfare in Canada
self-reflection manner to make the reader understand the reason of rejecting the children
sending far from the families (The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission;, 2020).
Changed method of the residential school was child welfare system of the Canadian
government that made the changes in the manner of sending the children far from families
but many similarities like detention of the child without permissions of the parents and
families, remained same. Transforming the child ancient values and adoption of the present
classroom methods presented the challenges to the indigenous for the adoption of child
welfare system (Lee, Likely, & Valin, 2017).
The entrance of European colonizers and the following nuisance of foreign rules
disturbed traditional structures of care by commanding national observes that caused in the
elimination many of indigenous children from their families (Weaver, 2016).
Early in 1879, the Canadian government methodically detached Indigenous children
from their folks, retaining them in suburban schools; this was done to transform these
children in the civilised life. These practices were aimed to save the children from poverty, ill
health, under-development, and many other issues. Residential school was initially focused
over the first nation’s children. An amendment to the Indian Act of 1876 in 1920 completed
attending at state-sponsored schools obligatory for all school age children substantially
talented and capable to attend and allowed absentee captains to impose presence by chasing,
interesting, and assigning to school absentee children. This amendment resulted the crisis in
the residential schools that the schools became overcrowded, with less facilities, harassment,
abusing and threatening of children was common in these schools. Majority of the children in
the residential schools were from poor and economically weaker sections of the societies
hence they were forced to live there in the critical situations (JustFacts, 2017). A survey
represents in the early 20th century that 50% of children appearing residential school died

Child welfare in Canada
because of poor conditions. With the time of closing of the residential schools, many reports
were found for the complaints made by the students for the sexual and physical abuse at the
schools, this situation was very critical. As these students were part of the most ancient group
of civilisation and these were ill-treated due to their languages, appearance, traditions and
beliefs. These all crises made the children overrepresented in the society and residential
schools that still presence in the continuation of the child welfare system in the year 1960.
Conclusion
Service delivery models of the child welfare system in Canada for the development of
indigenous children represent that it aims to share basic characteristics of civilisation, but
based on the examination of the indigenous communities research and survey concept of the
child welfare system is as similar as the concept of the residential schools of the past. These
schools were as the centres of torcher, sexual and physical harassment of children because of
their native and origin. The basic concept of the child welfare and education development
system was inspired with the residential schools that taken the children far from their families
from the development and civilisation. Both are same and critical for the life of children born
in the indigenous community. Canadian culture and indigenous culture, traditions, beliefs and
languages have difference but Canadian government represents the child welfare as prior
responsibility but concept of residential schools and child welfare system both face crisis and
dissatisfaction from the people due to their overrepresentation of children in the system.

Child welfare in Canada
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Child welfare in Canada