'One day there will be no children in care,' says Cowessess Chief after historic child welfare deal inked
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan is the first Indigenous group in Canada to ink an agreement with Ottawa for federal funding of locally controlled child welfare services since the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families came into force last year.
But Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme is already looking to the future.
"One day there will be no children in care," he said at a ceremony on the reserve marking the pact Tuesday.
"[I'm] 39 nine years old and I hope that happens in my lifetime. But we have a lot of work to do."
The act allows for First Nations to assume authority over local child welfare systems under so-called co-ordination agreements and paves the way for children in care to remain in their home communities.
Cowessess First Nation is the first Indigenous group in Canada to sign such an agreement. The deal also comes with $38 million in funding over the next two years to support the band's further implementation of its own child welfare system, which actually began operating in April.
"Across the country, we are working with other First Nations to reach similar agreements," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who joined Delorme and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe for the ceremony.
As of last month, Indigenous Services Canada received requests from 38 bodies representing 100 Indigenous groups and communities who want to follow in the same footsteps as Cowessess First Nation, according to a news release .
Eighteen formal discussion groups focused on signing future agreements are now underway.
Cowessess has not had decision-making power over children in care since it was stripped of it in 1951, according to a letter distributed by Delorme on Monday.
More than 80 per cent of children in care in Saskatchewan are Indigenous, according to a 2018 children's advocate report .
That began to change with 2019's passage An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families, federal legislation aimed at reducing the number of youth in care and allowing communities to create their own child-welfare systems.
Cowessess did that in 2020, when it asserted its inherent rights over its children and families.
While noting the recent discovery of 751 unmarked graves associated with the former Marieval Indian Residential School , Trudeau said his government has been working with Cowessess on the child welfare funding agreement for years.
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I guess it's not all "mayhem" as a previous seeder would have us believe.
This is what has been needed for decades.
Hopefully all First Nations, Metis, and Inuit will be able to come to the same arrangement. The same should be done in the US.
Mayhem is in the mind of the ignorant, uninformed moosh nooshes.
What's that, a canoe full of moose meat?
Dumb ass in the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language.
This moosh noosh just fell in unrequited love with Mia Buckles.
Moose meat would be, nooka`ige. Canoe would be jiimaani.
Morning...No children in care..that day cannot come fast enough...
Exactly but the first step is to get them out of the so called care of the government and back with the Nations where they belong.
This would be an ideal step for ICWA - get it back into the Tribes/Nation's hands.
Yes, it would.
Morning...yes that would be ideal here to but as I said previously the Koori people do not seem keen.
Not sure what the actual problem is and most times even their families are reluctant to take kids in.
Anything is better than ending up in the system... but unfortunately it still goes on.
Moves are afoot though encouraging Koori's to foster the kids but as usual there are not enough people to do it..
Over the years I've met and discussed this and many other problems within the indigenous communities to include Native American, First Nations, Metis, Alaska Natives, Koori, Hawaiians and the Maori of NZ.
The subject is so broad, so deep that there is no easy explanation or one that a non Indigenous person can easily understand.
This is a fairly good article about the Koori that may help you understand, shona.
Pay special attention to the link of NT Intervention 2007. That was not only illegal but immoral and I hope that each of those that authorized it burn it hell for eternity.
Sorry ..Just got back from getting my first vaccination...what no micro chip was implanted...now I can't swap it with the cat..
Yes it is a mess here to and how we go about trying to improve things...a very good question..
I do know one thing the Koori voice is growing stronger and stronger and things that were once accepted, are no longer.
I live in a very strong Koori community one of the biggest in Victoria. They are changing people's attitudes and really are making head way, but on their own terms and way. They have my up most respect and I admire their culture and cringe at our history.
Good to hear that you received your first vaccination. Ah, heck no micro chip implant, I'd complain the the local vet. LOL
That is very good to hear. The US army is returning 9 Lakota children and 1 Aleut child that died at the first US Boarding School, Carlisle Indian School. The bodies are the 4th group in the last couple of years to be returned to their families. The families were rarely notified that their children had died and the US government said it was too expensive to return the bodies to their families. It's very difficult to wrap ones head around that. What they are finding in Canada is the same thing that they will find in the US now that a Native American is the Secretary of the Interior.
Evening. Actually it is NAIDOC week here. The Koori nation are running all sorts of documentaries on their own TV channel. Movies, cooking shows using bush Tucker, all their different languages over 200 and reconciliation on Land. Watching it now and Ernie Dingo is on... brilliant actor..
Sounds like a cultural experience for you and other non-indigenous Australians.
Evening..yes heaps of Koori movies been made over bthe years. 10 canoes is excellent if you get the chance to see that one.
Yet another dumb question.. when the Native Americans lit fires what did they use. Here Kooris used rubbing sticks. Just curious if it was the same there?
Ancient Native Americans used rubbing sticks just like the Koori or they struck two pieces of hard stone together such as chert or pyrites.
I'll see if I can find the movie somewhere.