Indigenous Family Separation Must End: Paying Tribute to 215 Indigenous Children in BC Residential School |
|
May 30th 2021
Justice For All Canada laments the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children discovered at a former British Columbia residential school. We stand by Indigenous families in support and solidarity, including those former residential school students affected by the events.
This week’s news coverage of this appalling story raises a critical moment of reflection and awareness.
Since 1991, Canada has ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which further stipulates children’s rights not to be separated from families. Despite this, historical child welfare policies used by Canadian residential schools continue to this day.
According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), the number of Indigenous children in care is staggering. The growing crisis of over-representation of Indigenous children and youth in family services is complex and multi-faceted. The inter-generational impact of colonialism, racism and slavery is a significant cause of child welfare experiences for Indigenous children.
The shameful policies associated with forced assimilation, suppression of Indigenous language and culture, combined with abuse and mistreatment, amounted to the genocide of Indigenous peoples, according to the landmark 2015 Truth and Reconciliation report.
“Canada shutting down Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1978 did not bring an end to this story of pain and trauma. Every day, we witness the legacy of these schools through income, education and health disparities between Indigenous people and other Canadians,” said Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director of Justice For All Canada.
“The legacy of these schools continues in the form of intense racism that people exhibit towards Indigenous communities. This includes systemic and other kinds of discrimination that they face as well,” Ghayyur added.
This unthinkable loss of innocent life in British Columbia was never documented by the school’s administrators, nor were the reasons for their deaths.
It is imperative that the Canadian government fully supports First Nation communities in British Columbia as they currently work with specialists to determine the causes of the children’s deaths.
To date, more than 4,100 children were identified to have died while attending Canadian residential schools, according to The Missing Children Project.
Justice For All Canada laments the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children discovered at a former British Columbia residential school. We stand by Indigenous families in support and solidarity, including those former residential school students affected by the events.
This week’s news coverage of this appalling story raises a critical moment of reflection and awareness.
Since 1991, Canada has ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which further stipulates children’s rights not to be separated from families. Despite this, historical child welfare policies used by Canadian residential schools continue to this day.
According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), the number of Indigenous children in care is staggering. The growing crisis of over-representation of Indigenous children and youth in family services is complex and multi-faceted. The inter-generational impact of colonialism, racism and slavery is a significant cause of child welfare experiences for Indigenous children.
The shameful policies associated with forced assimilation, suppression of Indigenous language and culture, combined with abuse and mistreatment, amounted to the genocide of Indigenous peoples, according to the landmark 2015 Truth and Reconciliation report.
“Canada shutting down Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1978 did not bring an end to this story of pain and trauma. Every day, we witness the legacy of these schools through income, education and health disparities between Indigenous people and other Canadians,” said Taha Ghayyur, Executive Director of Justice For All Canada.
“The legacy of these schools continues in the form of intense racism that people exhibit towards Indigenous communities. This includes systemic and other kinds of discrimination that they face as well,” Ghayyur added.
This unthinkable loss of innocent life in British Columbia was never documented by the school’s administrators, nor were the reasons for their deaths.
It is imperative that the Canadian government fully supports First Nation communities in British Columbia as they currently work with specialists to determine the causes of the children’s deaths.
To date, more than 4,100 children were identified to have died while attending Canadian residential schools, according to The Missing Children Project.
Take Meaningful Actions of Solidarity
- Send an email to Canadian lawmakers to approve Bill C-15, a law mandating the Canadian Government to abide by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This important UN Declaration affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination, their language, culture and traditional lands
- Using social media, please share your kindness, support and solidarity with the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc community, and with all First Nations people in BC, who as they learn this news, are grappling with this tragic discovery at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Find and tag them on Facebook and Twitter. Use hashtag #215Children.
- Commemorate National Indigenous History Month this June. Please take time in the month of June to educate yourself about the unmarked graves, covered up deaths, mass burial grounds of babies and children who never came home.