First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada have traditional systems of culture, law and knowledge that have provided effective protection of their children for thousands of years. Despite their diversity, Aboriginal peoples continue to share a high value for children and an emphasis on the caring and teaching responsibilities of extended family and community (Gough et al., 2005).
European colonization of North America imposed foreign, and often harmful, policies on Aboriginal families (Blackstock, Trocmé & Bennett, 2004). The federal “residential schools” policy removed tens of thousands of Aboriginal children from their homes over several generations, aiming for assimilation. Many of these schools were rife with child abuse and neglect (Bennett et al., 2005).
The addition of a new section (s.88) to the Indian Act in 1951 cleared the way for provincial laws to apply to First Nations people living on reserve. Following this change, provincial child welfare authorities apprehended large numbers of Aboriginal children in the 1960s and 1970s, now known as the “60s scoop” (Bennett et al., 2005). Social workers placed some of these children in residential schools, while many others were adopted into non-Aboriginal homes. Due to federal/provincial funding disputes, apprehensions were usually the only child welfare “service” provided to Aboriginal communities (Ibid.).
Aboriginal peoples began forming their own child welfare agencies in the 1970s, and the movement towards self-government continues. However numerous challenges remain. Most disturbing is evidence that another “scoop” of Aboriginal children appears to be underway, driven by systemic disadvantages in Aboriginal communities coupled with the drastic under-funding of First Nations child welfare agencies by the federal government (Blackstock et al, 2005)