Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

End child apprehensions

Recommendation 117: Prohibit the placement of Indigenous children into non-Indigenous foster and adoptive families, and regularly report on how many Indigenous children are in government care and how many are being placed in non-Indigenous homes.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

End child apprehensions

Recommendation 118: The provincial government must immediately review the care plans for all Indigenous children and youth currently in care and involve their Indigenous communities, especially extended family members and elders, in the care plan.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 119: Making funds available for non-Indigenous foster care services but not for supporting Indigenous families perpetuates the detrimental cycle of apprehension. Increase available supports and preventative services for mothers and families.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 122: Guarantee free and culturally appropriate child care and early childhood education for all children on and off reserve, with adequate staffing ratios and support for children with special needs.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 123: Guarantee free individualized support such as culturally appropriate parenting programs; detox on demand; and counselling for mothers with mental health diagnoses, learning disabilities, drug use dependence, and who are survivors of domestic violence.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Support Indigenous families

Recommendation 127: Increase the number of culturally appropriate family liaison workers and parenting supports.

Recommendations to keep Indigenous families together in the DTES

Accountability

Recommendation 129: Train and hire more Indigenous social workers and ensure that all social workers are culturally-competent, committed to decolonizing practices, have better communication skills, and are educated about and sensitive to the intergenerational trauma of family separation.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 172: End the current classification scale and reassess all Indigenous women currently classified at the maximum-security level using a gender and culturally-responsive classification tool.

Recommendations to end criminalization of Indigenous women in the DTES

Correctional facilities

Recommendation 176: All day-to-day programs and services at remand, provincial, and federal facilities must be accessible, timely, and long term with the goal of decarceration and successful reintegration. Access must be unconditional, not contingent on classification, and not withdrawn as a punitive or disciplinary measure. Guaranteed programs and services must include:

1. Independent prison legal services.
2. Independent healthcare in accordance with the U.N. Mandela rules including 24/7 appropriate healthcare; mental health counselling; access to gender-affirming surgery; detox on demand; heroin-assisted and injectable hydromorphone treatment; and safe needle exchange and tattooing program.
3. Culturally appropriate and non-punitive healing programs that understand physical, mental, spiritual, and sexual traumas as intergenerational collective traumas caused by colonization.
4. Free phone calls.
5. Nutritious food.
6. Library, reading materials, and computer literacy.
7. Increased visitation, including increased hours, more opportunities for physical contact, and decreased security checks for visitors.
8. Access to meaningful employment and higher prisoner pay.
9. Support for release planning.

Recommendations for Indigenous women’s wellness in the DTES

Recommendation 181: Strengthen all the social determinants of Indigenous women’s health by ensuring access to and governance over land, culture, language, housing, child care, income security, employment, education, and safety.