The First Nations Children's Action Research and Education Service (FNCARES) is a partnership between the University of Alberta and the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada. Established in June 2012 by Dr. Cindy Blackstock, FNCARES is located in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

FNCARES is committed to translating research on the structural drivers of disadvantage for First Nations children, youth and families into pragmatic, community-based solutions, and to involving children and youth in this process. We respect and support First Nations self-determination in research by engaging communities as partners and co-researchers in all stages of each project. We also hold numerous educational events throughout the year, including lectures, workshops, film screenings and panel discussions.

Click here to watch Cindy Blackstock on Mansbridge One on One, where she discusses how the federal government's failure to provide equitable services to First Nations children mean they have far fewer opportunities and are at much higher risk of death than other Canadian children, and how children are the great hope of reconciliation.  

Did You Know?

• There are three times more First Nations children in child welfare care now than there were at the height of Residential School;
• First Nations kids are 6 to 8 times more likely to go into child welfare care than non-Indigenous children;
• This overrepresentation is largely caused by factors beyond the control of individual parents: poverty, poor housing, under-funded education, substance misuse and, in many cases, lack of access to safe drinking water.

The good news is, that working together, we can do something about the structural drivers of disadvantage. FNCARES is committed to working in partnership with First Nations communities to address these structural inequities and create solutions.