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 92: We call for the establishment of a Child and Youth Advocate in each jurisdiction with a specialized unit with the mandate of Indigenous children and youth. These units must be established within a period of one year of this report. We call upon the federal government to establish a National Child and Youth Commissioner who would also serve as a special measure to strengthen the framework of accountability for the rights of Indigenous children in Canada. This commissioner would act as a national counterpart to the child advocate offices that exist in nearly all provinces and territories.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Social workers and those implicated in child welfare

Recommendation 93: We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to immediately adopt the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal 2017 CHRT 14 standards regarding the implementation of Jordan’s Principle in relation to all First Nations (Status and non-Status), Métis, and Inuit children. We call on governments to modify funding formulas for the provision of services on a needs basis, and to prioritize family support, reunification, and prevention of harms. Funding levels must represent the principle of substantive equity.

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.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Extractive and development industries

Recommendation 99: We call upon all resource-extraction and development industries to consider the safety and security of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as well as their equitable benefit from development, at all stages of project planning, assessment, implementation, management, and monitoring.

Calls for industries, institutions, services, and partnerships

Extractive and development industries

Recommendation 100: We call upon all governments and bodies mandated to evaluate, approve, and/or monitor development projects to complete gender-based socio-economic impact assessments on all proposed projects as part of their decision making and ongoing monitoring of projects. Project proposals must include provisions and plans to mitigate risks and impacts identified in the impact assessments prior to being approved.