FNCARES - Featured Resources
Resources produced by FNCARES and others
Publications
First Nations Child Poverty: A Literature Review and Analysis
by Melisa Brittain and Cindy Blackstock
This five-chapter literature review and analysis examines existing research on First Nations child poverty contextualized within the historical and contemporary manifestations of colonialism in Canada.
- Informaton Sheet on First Nations Child Poverty
- Information Sheet on Chapter Four: Enduring Legacies: Child Welfare, Underfunding and Socioeconomic Impacts
- Complete Literature Review
Film and Video
Incremental Equality = Discrimination: First Nations and Public Services
This is video of a free public lecture by Alika Lafontaine and Cindy Blackstock that took place at the University of Alberta on Sept. 14, 2017. The speakers focus on the problems of incremental equality in public services for First Nations.
*Click here to watch Video of the lecture
(Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System
dir. Melisa Brittain, 2017, 42 min. Closed captioned.
Canada's colonial practice of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families did not end with the closing of Indian residential schools. It continues today in the form of provincial and territorial child welfare systems, which remove Indigenous children and youth at unprecedented rates. This film features the voices of Indigenous youth as they reflect on their prior involvement with child welfare and share their multiple strategies of resistance to assimilation and state control. Adding to these insights, First Nations child advocate Cindy Blackstock traces the term 'neglect', the main rationale for child welfare removals, to its roots in the residential school system, and points to laws that codify structural discrimination as the leading cause of child welfare (dis)placements.
Read more about the film at KingCrip Productions. This film is distributed by V Tape. There are special rates for community organizations, public libraries and high schools.
We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice
dir. Alanis Obomsawin, 2016, 163 min.
This stunning NFB documentary by legendary Abenaki filmmker Alanis Obomsawin follows the Human Rights case launched against the government of Canada for racially discriminating against First Nations children. Obomsawin guides us through the intricacies of the legal system while never losing sight of the real issues at stake: the welfare of children and the survival of First Nations cultures.
Watch the Trailer Community Organizations can hold free screenings of the film at no charge during 2017. Contact Donna Cowan at the NFB.
Watch the Q & A Session with Alanis Obomsawin and Cindy Blackstock following Edmonton screening Feb. 12, 2017
Cindy Blackstock - Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations Child Welfare
2015, 6:26 min. Closed Captioned.
In this short video, Cindy Blackstock explains the reasons behind the Human Rights complaint filed against the Canadian government for racially discriminating against First Nations children in 2007. Underfunding of child welfare and essential services undermines First Ntaions child well-being, but for 6 years, the federal government tried to keep the case from being heard. In 2013, the case finally went before the Tribunal. A ruling in favour of First Nations children was made in January 2016.
Books
- Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada's Lost Promise and One Girl's Dream, by Charlie Angus, 2015
- Walking this Path Together: Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Child Welfare Practice (2nd ed), edited by Sohki Aski Esquao [Jeannine Carriere] & Susan Strega (2015)
- Indigenous adolescent development: Psychological, social and historical contexts by L.B. Whitbeck, M. Walls and K. Hartshorn (2014). This book is the result of an eight-year longitudinal diagnostic study of Indigenous adolescents and their families designed to address developmental, mental health and substance use issues and help communities design effective culturally-based prevention programs for adolescents in tribal communities. The study involved 746 tribally-enrolled adolescents from four American Indian tribes and four Canadian First Nations who were followed from early adolescence into early adulthood. In Chapter 10 (pages 116-125), the authors argue that every level of Indigenous adolescent development is permeated by the historical and current effects of ethnic cleansing, creating the unique historical, geographical and cultural contexts in which North American Indigenous adolescents grow up. They propose a distinct model of Indigenous adolescent development (see diagram on page 117) that can take into account the unique settings and cultural influences in which Indigenous adolescents are growing up, and they discuss each element in the model in the rest of the chapter.
Websites
- Aboriginal/Indigenous Index of Web Links, University of Alberta
- Racial Equity Resource Guide - Designed by America Healing, a strategy for working towards racial healing and equity, this interactive online tool helps organizations and individuals build their own resource guides for addressing racial inequity in their communities. Although designed in the U.S., the resources in the category of 'racial healing' could prove especially useful for Canadians as we continue to work towards reconciliation, and towards equity for First Nations children.
- Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal
- Keep the Promise, Indigenous Child Poverty
- Health of American Indian or Alaska Native Population - This website provides U.S. data on the "Health of American Indian or Alaska Native Population"
Articles, Reports & Journals
Click here to search the Caring Society's Research Database and access annotated resources related to Aboriginal children and families in Canada and other settler-colonial nations.
- Federal Liberal Budget fails First Nations children, families: Blackstock, APTN National News, March 22, 2016
- Children of the Sixties Scoop tell their stories, CBC News, March 20, 2016
- Article: Why is Canada ignoring the health of Aboriginal peoples?
- Children of the Broken Treaty eye-opening read for Canadians, CBC News, Sept. 9, 2015
- Poverty or prosperity: Indigenous children in Canada. Macdonald and Wilson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2013.
- Why am I Poor? First Nations child poverty in Ontario. Best Start Resource Centre, 2012.
- Bibliography of research on structural risk for First Nations children and youth
- A Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography on Aspects of Aboriginal Child Welfare in Canada (2005)
- May 2008 Report by Auditor General of Canada on First Nations Child and Family Service Program, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
- First Peoples Child and Family Review
- Reconciliation in Aboriginal Child Welfare and Child Health: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, Fact Sheet
- Got Empathy? Kids Do!: An Interview with Cindy Blackstock
- Reconciliation in Action- Canadian Teachers’ Federation: Aboriginal Education
- Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) 2008
- Child and Youth Advocate, Alberta, Annual Report: 2011-2012
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Indigenous Adolescents
- Ethical Principles, Dilemmas and Risks in Collecting Data on Violence against Children
- Report demands greater focus on aboriginal youths - Kelly Cryderman for the Calgary Herald, November 6, 2012
- Federal Aboriginal Affairs department spying on advocate for First Nations children - Annette Francis for APTN’s National News
Audio and Video
- Audio: Cindy Blackstock on the 2016 Federal Budget, CBC News, Ottawa, March 23, 2016
- Audio: 163,000 Reasons Why Cindy Blackstock Keeps Fighting for Kids, CBC's Unreserved, March 6, 2016
- Video: The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations Child Welfare - Dr. Cindy Blackstock's talk at the University of Alberta on March 15, 2016, for Education, Diversity and Inclusion Week 2016
- Video: Reconciliation in Post-Secondary: Implementing the TRC Recommendations - Speakers: Dr. Eber Hampton, Charlene Bearhead, and Dr. Cindy Blackstock, University of Alberta, Oct. 14, 2015
- Video: Eleven facts about the gap between First Nations and the rest of Canada
- Video: Marshall Ganz on Making Social Movements Matter
- Video: Letters to Canada, I am a Witness: Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Hearing, First Nations Children and Family Caring Society
- Radio Interview: Cindy Blackstock on Aboriginals and Idle No More - CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright
- Radio Interview: Crusader of Aboriginal child services Cindy Blackstock won’t back down - CBC Radio’s Trailbreakers