"The long history of discrimination against First Nations children published in Policy Options by Professor Blackstock"

In January of 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal handed down a landmark ruling finding the federal government is racially discriminating against 163,000 First Nations children by failing to provide equitable child welfare services (www.fnwitness.ca) and improperly implementing Jordan’s Principle.  The Tribunal noted that Canada’s discriminatory conduct was incentivizing the removal of First Nations children from their families and ordered them to cease the discriminatory conduct.  This article takes readers back in time to demonstrate the deep roots of federal government discrimination towards children and how a lack of public outrage has allowed it to continue despite available solutions. 

This case is the subject of a National Film Board documentary entitled “We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice” that premiered at TIFF in September and is touring across Canada. For more information about the case go to www.fnwitness.ca

Also see Policy Options full details.