Saskatchewan First Nation comes to B.C. to talk about taking over child welfare
Leaders of a Saskatchewan First Nation are in Vancouver to launch plans to take over control of child welfare services for its members.
It comes as the Key First Nation sent a letter to Premier David Eby expressing "heartbreak and outrage" at the loss of one of its teenage members while she was in British Columbia's child welfare system.
The nation says it chose to start consultations in Vancouver to honour Noelle O'Soup, a 13-year-old member of its nation who disappeared from a B.C. group home in 2021 and whose remains were found in the city nearly a year later.
The letter says the nation has grave concerns about the B.C. government's inaction on the teen's disappearance and death, and it calls on the government to address systemic failures that compromised the girl's safety and her family's access to information.
The girl's body was found inside a Downtown Eastside rooming house and while the tenant of the room was found dead inside in February of last year, officers initially missed the remains of O'Soup and another woman, who were also in the room.
The letter to Eby says the disparity between outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in government care that led to this tragic outcome needs to be identified and changed.
The federal government changed the law in 2020, allowing Indigenous communities to exercise jurisdiction over child and family services while Ottawa established national minimum standards.
Indigenous children are disproportionately overrepresented in B.C.'s child and family services system, comprising less than 10 per cent of the child population yet representing 68 per cent of the children in care.
The letter says there was a concerning lack of transparency from law enforcement and the BC Coroners Service, leaving O'Soup's family and the nation with many unanswered questions.
"As Chief and Council, we are taking our first steps to assert our natural jurisdiction of our children," the letter says. "We no longer have faith in (the ability of governments across Canada) to protect our children, who are our future."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.