Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Media and social influencers

Recommendation 59: We call upon all media, news corporations and outlets, and, in particular, government funded corporations and outlets; media unions, associations, and guilds; academic institutions teaching journalism or media courses; governments that fund such corporations, outlets, and academic institutions; and journalists, reporters, bloggers, film producers, writers, musicians, music producers, and, more generally, people working in the entertainment industry to take decolonizing approaches to their work and publications in order to educate all Canadians about Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. More specifically, this includes the following:

1. Ensure authentic and appropriate representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, in order to address negative and discriminatory stereotypes.
2. Support Indigenous people sharing their stories, from their perspectives, free of bias, discrimination, and false assumptions, and in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way.
3. Increase the number of Indigenous people in broadcasting, television, and radio, and in journalist, reporter, producer, and executive positions in the entertainment industry, including, and not limited to, by providing scholarships and grants aimed at Indigenous inclusion in media, film, and music industry-related fields of study;
providing scholarships and grants aimed at Indigenous inclusion in media, film, and music industry-related fields of study.
4. Take proactive steps to break down the stereotypes that hypersexualize and demean Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, and to end practices that perpetuate myths that Indigenous women are more sexually available and “less worthy” than non-Indigenous women because of their race or background.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Health and wellness service providers

Recommendation 64: We call upon governments, institutions, organizations, and essential and non-essential service providers to support and provide permanent and necessary resources for specialized intervention, healing and treatment programs, and services and initiatives offered in Indigenous languages.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 89: We call upon all governments and child welfare services to ensure that, in cases where apprehension is not avoidable, child welfare services prioritize and ensure that a family member or members, or a close community member, assumes care of Indigenous children. The caregivers should be eligible for financial supports equal to an amount that might otherwise be paid to a foster family, and will not have other government financial support or benefits removed or reduced by virtue of receiving additional financial supports for the purpose of caring for the child. This is particularly the case for children who lose their mothers to violence or to institutionalization and are left behind, needing family and belonging to heal.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 91: We call upon provincial and territorial governments and child welfare services for an immediate end to the practice of targeting and apprehending infants (hospital alerts or birth alerts) from Indigenous mothers right after they give birth.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 94: We call upon all levels of government and child welfare services for a reform of laws and obligations with respect to youth “aging out” of the system, including ensuring a complete network of support from childhood into adulthood, based on capacity and needs, which includes opportunities for education, housing, and related supports. This includes the provision of free post-secondary education for all children in care in Canada.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 95: We call upon all child and family services agencies to engage in recruitment efforts to hire and promote Indigenous staff, as well as to promote the intensive and ongoing training of social workers and child welfare staff in the following areas:

• history of the child welfare system in the oppression and genocide of Indigenous Peoples
• anti-racism and anti-bias training
• local culture and language training
• sexual exploitation and trafficking training to recognize signs and develop specialized responses

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 96: We call upon all governments and child welfare agencies to fully implement the Spirit Bear Plan.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 97: We call upon all child welfare agencies to establish more rigorous requirements for safety, harm-prevention, and needs-based services within group or care homes, as well as within foster situations, to prevent the recruitment of children in care into the sex industry. We also insist that governments provide appropriate care and services, over the long term, for children who have been exploited or trafficked while in care.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 98: We call upon child welfare agencies and all governments to fully investigate deaths of Indigenous youth in care.

Distinctions-based calls

Inuit-specific calls for justice

Recommendation 153: We call upon all governments and service providers, in full partnership with Inuit, to design and provide wraparound, accessible, and culturally appropriate victim services. These services must be available and accessible to all Inuit and in all Inuit communities.