Current Problems: Child Welfare (1-5)
Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Québec"
Updates on this page: 27
January 30, 2024
Critics say Quebec’s child welfare legislation falls far short
Bill C-92 provides rights for Indigenous people to exercise jurisdiction over their own child and family services. Last fall, Quebec introduced its own child welfare legislation – but critics say it falls far short of the federal law....
December 5, 2023
AFN national chief candidates would back inquiry into Sixties Scoop
National inquiry into removal of Indigenous children could become a key task for next AFN leader CBC Indigenous: Some First Nations chiefs say the next national chief of the Assembly of First Nations should push for a national inquiry into the “Sixties Scoop” and the continued removal of Indigenous children from their families. About 22,000 Indigenous children were...
November 22, 2023
First Nations Children in Quebec Deserve Better
NationTalk: Wendake — On the occasion of Early Childhood Week, the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC), in collaboration with the Observatoire des tout-petits, is unveiling the results of a survey carried out among the Quebec population by the Léger firm. The results confirm that concerted actions must continue with a...
October 26, 2023
Bill 37: A Bill that Misses the Mark
NationTalk: Wendake — In response to the recommendActions of the report of the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection, unveiled in 2021, the Quebec government is announcing today a bill aimed at creating the Commissioner for Children’s Welfare and Rights, supported by a d eputy c ommissioner dedicated to the...
October 4, 2023
Child welfare lawsuit by Inuit that claims system is racist waiting for judge’s ruling
September hearing was held to decide if class action can go ahead. APTN News: Former Inuit wards of the state in Quebec are waiting for a judge to decide if their class action lawsuit against the province and the federal government will proceed. On Sept. 25 and 26, Quebec’s Superior Court heard Tanya Jones and second anonymous...
June 28, 2023
Coroner issues wake-up call in report on Inuk teen moved 78 times by the time she died, at 18
Maggie Kimattuuti Padlayat, surrendered at birth, lived with 18 different foster families by the age of 7 CBC News: Before ending her life at 18, Maggie Kimattuuti Padlayat was moved 78 times by Quebec’s youth protection services. The constant moving — living with 18 different foster families by the age of seven — contributed to...
May 25, 2023
Quebec judge awards $25K to Inuk woman ‘forgotten’ by youth protection authorities
In legal first, judge says cash is only way to try to rectify years of neglect CBC News: In a legal first, a Quebec Court judge has awarded cash compensation of $25,000 to a 19-year-old Inuk woman who was forgotten by the youth protection (DPJ) officials responsible for her care for nearly 15 years. In the judgment, rendered last...
May 15, 2023
Quebec sent Ottawa hospital hundreds of birth alerts despite Ontario ban
Hospital received 298 birth alerts since October 2020, when Ontario ended them CBC News: Despite the fact that Ontario put a stop to birth alerts in 2020, Quebec child welfare agencies continued to send hundreds of the controversial notifications — which can be used to threaten to or actually seize newborns from their mothers — to Ottawa’s largest hospital....
January 6, 2023
Sixties Scoop survivor reconnects with birth mom, discovers her culture, decades after separation
It took many years for the pair to develop a mother-daughter relationship WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC News: Tauni Sheldon remembers the first time she saw her biological mom. Sheldon was 23 years old. It was 1993 and she was in the Winnipeg airport, having just flown in with her adoptive parents, Jim...
January 2, 2023
2023 will be a pivotal year for Indigenous child welfare on both sides of the border
Two cases could establish who has the right to decide what’s best for Indigenous kids in North America CBC NEWS: The highest courts in Canada and the United States are expected to decide child welfare cases this year that could have far-reaching implications for Indigenous rights on both sides of the border. In Brackeen v. Haaland,...
January 1, 2023
Denial rates of services and supports for First Nations children varied drastically by region during the pandemic
The Globe and Mail: Marsha McLeod In 2007, just before the House of Commons rose for its Christmas break, parliamentarians voted unanimously to adopt a principle meant to put the needs of First Nations children ahead of bureaucratic government conveniences. Jean Crowder, the then-MP who brought forward the motion to adopt Jordan’s Principle, warned her parliamentary colleagues...
December 5, 2022
AFN Will Continue To Fight For First Nations Jurisdiction As Affirmed In An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit And Métis Children, Youth And Families
NationTalk: (Ottawa, ON) – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced today that it continues to stand with First Nations in Quebec and all First Nations’ who exercise their inherent jurisdiction over child and family law. First Nations interveners, including the AFN, will appear in a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada to support...
October 26, 2022
Indigenous Jurisdiction and Bill C-92 at the Supreme Court of Canada
In the following post, my colleague Kate Gunn provides an overview of Quebec’s challenge of Bill C-92 at the Supreme Court and what it means for Indigenous Peoples’ ability to make decisions based on their inherent laws. First Peoples Law Report: Persistent uncertainty regarding the extent to which governments in Canada are prepared to recognize...
October 5, 2022
New investigation into allegations of rights abuse of an Inuk child placed in isolation in a youth center
The Commission launched an investigation of its own initiative after being informed of the situation of an Inuk child who had allegedly been placed in isolation in a rehabilitation center of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. NationTalk: Montréal – The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse launched an investigation of...
September 21, 2022
‘The bond is broken’: Data shows Indigenous kids overrepresented in foster care
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census showing Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care. Toronto Star: WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg mother says she was scarred for life when her first child was taken away at birth by social workers, who told her she was unfit to parent...
September 19, 2022
Experts warn ending birth alerts not the only solution to keep Indigenous children with their family
Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The number of newborns taken into care dropped dramatically as birth alerts ended across Canada, but child welfare experts warn ceasing the practice cannot be the only step governments take to keep families together. “(Birth alerts) really risk being kind of a red herring in the real issue of...
April 19, 2022
Indigenous Youth Care in Montreal
NationTalk: Exactly six months after it asked the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission to launch an inquiry on its own initiative into systemic racism in employment and service delivery at Batshaw Youth and Family Centers, the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (NWSM) still has not received any response. The silence is treated as...
March 17, 2022
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92: AFN supports appeal to Supreme Court
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced today that it stands with First Nations in Quebec and all First Nations’ jurisdiction over child and family law. “Taking the Act to the Supreme Court presents an opportunity for the full recognition and affirmation of First Nations Inherent rights, as well as the exercise of this jurisdiction,...
February 11, 2022
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92
CBC – The Quebec Court of Appeal issued a decision yesterday finding the law constitutional apart from two key sections that relate to Aboriginal self-government and child and family services that it ruled are unconstitutional. The court took issue with the section of the law that allows Indigenous child welfare laws to supersede provincial laws...
February 10, 2022
Quebec Court of Appeal rules against two sections of Bill C-92
The Court of Appeal of Québec ruled on Feb. 10, 2022 that Bill C-92 “is constitutional, except for ss. 21 and 22(3), which are not”. These sections deal with the right of Aboriginal self-government and the regulation of Child and Family Services. As Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, professor of law at the Peter Allard School of Law at...
May 3, 2021
Laurent Commission Final Report
The Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection (Laurent Commission), released their Final Report. The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) would like to thank the commissioners, …for their openness to including a chapter dedicated to First...
February 12, 2020
Laurent Commission Final Report
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – presented a joint brief to the Laurent Commission (Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection) aimed in particular at reaffirming the rights of First Nations to decide on the future...
February 12, 2020
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – presented a joint brief to the Laurent Commission (Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection) aimed in particular at reaffirming the rights of First Nations to decide on the future and...
December 20, 2019
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde says the Government of Quebec’s decision to request that the Quebec Court of Appeal rule on the constitutionality of Bill C-92, the Indigenous child welfare act, is a setback that will further harm First Nations children and families. This move could lead to delay and conflict,...
November 19, 2019
Indigenous Youth Care in Montréal
APTN: Release of “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Child Welfare Services for indigenous clientele living in Montreal” presents a scathing analysis of Indigenous youth care in the Montreal area. Assembled over three years by stakeholders from the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, Concordia University, Rising Sun Daycare, and the Youth Department of the public...
March 25, 2019
Child and Youth Protection in Nunavik
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse raised concerns about the lack of progress on the implementation of recommendations from their 2007 report on child and youth protection services in Nunavik, a follow-up report in 2010, in 2014 and again in 2016. In March 2018, the Commission presented these...
March 21, 2019
Yellowhead Institue Critique of Bill C-92
“Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit children, youth and families” was graded as follows by the Yellowhead Institute of Ryerson University based on analysis by five Indigenous legal scholars. (See also First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Information Brief in C2A # 4) GRADES: National Standards: …………………… C Funding: ……………………………………..F...
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