Truth & Reconciliation Day

[-DLC-]

Williams Lake First Nation to release preliminary findings from residential school investigation

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/williams-lake-findings-1.6326467

 

 

May peace be with those who have to endure this pain, over and over again.

[thedestroyerofworlds]

2 hours ago, -DLC- said:

Williams Lake First Nation to release preliminary findings from residential school investigation

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/williams-lake-findings-1.6326467

 

 

May peace be with those who have to endure this pain, over and over again.

You would have thought that this mess would have been looked into prior to the end of the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission".  How can reconciliation happen without knowing all of the truth?  

 

100% the last sentence.

Edited January 25, 2022 by thedestroyerofworlds

[Warhippy]

People can raise $5 million for truckers in a week and allow them to clog national highways for their protest convoy of karens.

 

But

 

We can't give first nations clean water after decades and arrest them for protesting on highways and on their own gd land because they refuse to allow development they have not sanctioned

 

Let that sink in.

[Coda]

4 hours ago, thedestroyerofworlds said:

You would have thought that this mess would have been looked into prior to the end of the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission".  How can reconciliation happen without knowing all of the truth?  

 

100% the last sentence.

There is never a point where people "know all the truth".  You could argue that the fallout from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has contributed to these more recent investigations being undertaken at all, so I'm not sure that delaying the results of that commission from being released for a decade or two would really have been beneficial to anyone.  

[Canucklehead53]

What is truly sad is looking at my own beautiful daughters and realizing what trauma they would have faced if they were first Nation not all that long ago. 

 

Hearing of children attempting mass suicide and dieing due to exposure as they ran away in the middle of winter....what those kids must have faced and that I can never fathom in order to be pushed to such extremes. These are children who, by in large, had no idea what was happening on those first days of 'school'

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Canucklehead53

[thedestroyerofworlds]

1 hour ago, Coda said:

There is never a point where people "know all the truth".  You could argue that the fallout from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has contributed to these more recent investigations being undertaken at all, so I'm not sure that delaying the results of that commission from being released for a decade or two would really have been beneficial to anyone.  

Parties involved knew there was an issue.  There was a request for funding to investigate that the CONs under Harper denied.   So yes, we could have known more right around that time.

[Gurn]

Canada- not all that great a place, to some of our people:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/birth-alerts-have-ended-but-babies-still-being-apprehended-in-manitoba-data/ar-AAY498f?bk=1&ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a09fc387332644b392f8670b442e72f2

 

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s families minister has touted a significant drop in the number of newborns seized by social services since the province ended the controversial practice of birth alerts, but government data shows hundreds of babies are still being taken into care every year.

%7B© Provided by The Canadian Press

“We have reduced … childbirth apprehensions by 75 per cent since that policy was implemented," Rochelle Squires said during question period on Tuesday.

Data obtained by The Canadian Press through freedom-of-information requests shows, on average, a baby is still seized in Manitoba nearly every day.

Birth alerts were used to notify hospitals and child-welfare agencies that a more thoroughassessment was needed before a newborn was discharged to a parent deemed high-risk. 

The province stopped the practice in 2020 after a review found it discouraged pregnant women and their families from reaching out for prenatal support.

The province clarified the minister's numbers later in the week. It said there had been a decrease in newborn apprehensions, but it was not what the minister reported. There were 101 babies up to three days oldseized in 2020-21, a 46 per cent decrease from 186 newborns the year before.

The province said the minister had been including children up to a year old who had been taken into care.

The data obtained by the news agency shows there has been a gradual decrease of apprehensions involving babies under a year old, but it doesn't match what the minister said. 

In 2019, 496 babies were apprehended. That dropped to 386 babies the following year when birth alerts ended. Last year, 339 were apprehended. 

That's a decrease of 32 per cent from the year before and after birth alerts stopped.

The minister’s office further clarified that newborn apprehensions decreased by 65 per cent since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2016. And, it said in an email, a 75 per cent reduction is expected this year.

“Those are staggering numbers of babies being apprehended," said Cora Morgan, First Nations family advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Morgan said ending birth alerts was the right move. 

The practice has long been criticized by Indigenous leaders who say birth alerts are stacked against families. The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls said the alerts are “racist and discriminatory and are a gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother and the community.”

There are about 10,000 children in care in Manitoba and about 90 per cent are Indigenous.

Morgan said it's clear ending birth alerts has not stopped babies from being seized. She said mothers are still telling her they are scared to get prenatal support and she hears of babies and children being apprehended regularly.

“I still believe that they are still flagging mothers.” 

The province needs to do more to support women who are pregnant or who have just given birth to keep families together, Morgan said. 

Squires said in the legislature that “there has been a lot of damage done stemming back decades” around child welfare. She said all levels of government must move forward together. 

Bernadette Smith, a legislature member for the Opposition NDP, said babies should not be seized unless there’s a threat to the child.  

“We do more harm than good by apprehending kids,” she said. 

Smith agrees ending birth alerts was a good decision. But, she pointed out, it means the number of babies being taken into care should have been closer to zero. 

A bill Smith introduced in 2018 amended the province’s apprehension laws so that no child could be seized solely because of poverty. Smith explained that when she was a teenager she was placed in care because her mom couldn’t afford the supports needed to help her. 

With more than 300 babies seized a year, it's clear there are other families who need help, she said. 

“Moms should get the support before, during and after they have their children."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2022.

[Gurn]

3 minutes ago, gurn said:

There are about 10,000 children in care in Manitoba and about 90 per cent are Indigenous.

 

3 minutes ago, gurn said:

There are about 10,000 children in care in Manitoba and about 90 per cent are Indigenous.

Why does about 10% of the population end up with 90% of the total kids seized by government?

[Mike Vanderhoek]

Honestly trying to wrap my head around the whole " baby apprehension " or " seized " idea and apparent practice. Makes me feel like I have lived under a rock or something. I have no words for a system in place that would deny a family their child due to a lack of support or resources, being poor or apparently if you are of indigenous background. Naive me over here just assumed people would enroll or be a part of government and community programs to help and have friends or family advocate and lend a hand. Maybe we could provide resources and work with people vs just take their child away and place a higher cost on the overall system at the end of the day while ruining further a family that may be struggling. Obviously there will be some cases where having a child makes no sense for anyone, extreme circumstances of course but i'm sorry this is ludicrous.