The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Canada is failing some of this countryÕs most vulnerable children Ð those on native reserves who are taken from home and put into foster care, according to Auditor General Sheila Fraser. In a set of findings that demand action, she documented the need for better child services on reserves and the lamentable response from federal officials. Fraser reported that, as of March last year, about 8,300 children had been removed from their homes on reserves. ThatÕs more than five per cent of the total Ð a shocking rate that leaves First Nations kids eight times more likely to be taken from their family than other children. The funding formula used by Indian and Northern Affairs officials dates back to 1988 and is not based on the actual cost of delivering child welfare services, Fraser reported last week. Information isnÕt being collected to show that resulting programs are actually helping native children and that provincial standards are being met. There is no excuse for this state of affairs, especially since the native community has long pointed out problems highlighted by Fraser. ÒWe knew our kids were being shortchanged,Ó Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said. ÒWe knew the funding formula was outdated. We knew our families and care agencies were not being treated fairly.Ó Fontaine expressed hope that FraserÕs report will finally result in steps to improve the plight of native kids in care. In addition to more support for native child welfare services, there needs to be a renewed effort to keep First Nations youngsters with their families. Child abuse is one reason kids are taken from home, but Fraser found that native children are removed for this reason at about the same rate as non-aboriginals. The main factor driving them into care is neglect Ð an understandable outcome on reserves where squalid housing, drug and alcohol abuse fuelled by hopelessness, and the burden of perpetual poverty make it so hard to raise a child. Ultimately, the best way to help CanadaÕs most vulnerable children is to ease the dire conditions pushing them into care in the first place.
