Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its report on the Child and Family Services Act - Lifting NWT Children, Youth and Families: An All of Territory Approach to Keeping Families Together.
Executive Summary
Call to Champions and Message to Children and Youth
All children are sacred. NWT children and youth are talented, unique and powerful. But not all children have access to what they need. Over 98 percent of children and youth in care in the NWT are Indigenous, even though just 57 percent of the population of children and youth are Indigenous. The extent of destruction and trauma on Indigenous peoples, families and communities due to colonization, residential school and the Sixties Scoop, and the resulting overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in care in the child welfare system is a territorial crisis that requires an all-of-territory response.
We call for champions at all levels of governments, Indigenous governments and groups, non-governmental organizations, and allies to work together to provide a broader continuum of care, including supports and resources for all children and youth across the NWT.
Thank you to the children and youth in the territory who shared courageously with the committee. We hear you. We respect you. We value you. From you, we learn and take your lead. We hope you see your thoughts, insights and brilliance reflected within the following report and its recommendations. Once again, thank you to each and every one of you.
Introduction
The Standing Committee on Social Development (the “committee”) is mandated by the Child and Family Services Act to review the act and its implementation every five years. Thus, the Standing Committee on Social Development of the 19th Assembly of the Northwest Territories commenced a review in April 2021 to meet this requirement. In plain language, the review may include the Child and Family Services Act itself, directives, policies, plans, guidelines and implementation such as programs and services.
Committee focused the scope of the CFSA review on prevention strategies, and reviewed areas of child welfare put forward by stakeholders. The recommendations that follow are informed by feedback provided to Committee through the engagement process, internal research and Committee direction. The recommendations reflect prevention, early intervention and targeted supports.
Committee Approach
With the passing of Bill C-92: An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis Children, Youth and Families and the Child and Family Services Act's expected amendments to align with the federal legislation, committee is completing its statutory review at a time of change for Canadian child welfare. Together, the 19th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories priority to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, and the 2019 Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls strengthen the long-needed momentum for change required in the Canadian child welfare system.
The committee has selected two lenses of analysis for this report. First, committee has taken an equity-oriented approach to prioritize recommendations with the greatest positive impact for Indigenous children, youth and families and those with lived-experiences with child welfare.
Second, Committee has taken a trauma-informed care approach. A trauma-informed approach recognizes a person holistically and acknowledges that a person may have or is currently experiencing trauma. A trauma-informed approach also considers how frontline staff in organizations deliver policies, structures and services.
Engagement Process
From April 2021 to January 2022, more than 50 people stepped forward to participate in the Child and Family Services Act statutory review. Participants represented themselves individually, and as territorial governments, Indigenous government and nongovernmental organizations through public presentations, in-camera private listening sessions, written submissions and online surveys. The presentations and written submissions are included in Appendix A of our report.
The Committee would like to thank everyone who offered their expertise to this statutory review and subsequent report. Committee would also like to thank the Department of Health and Social Services for the in-camera briefings and information.
Challenge: Overrepresentation of Indigenous People in Child and Family Services and the History of Colonization
According to the Department of Health and Social Services, over 98 percent of children and youth receiving care from CFS are Indigenous, even though just 57 percent of children and youth in the Northwest Territories are Indigenous. Indigenous children and youth are virtually all of the children and youth receiving care in the territory and represent most of the 1044 protection and prevention services provided by Child and Family Services in 2020-2021.
The historic and ongoing overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in care in the NWT is staggering. The overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in Child and Family Services has long been documented and is rooted in Canada's history of genocide, colonization, residential school system, the Sixties Scoop, and the modern-day child and family services systems. All stakeholders described the harmful impacts of these legacies and the ongoing trauma of those familial and community experiences including the death of family members, addictions, abuse, family breakdowns, loss of cultural knowledge, poverty and displacement within their communities.
Recommendations
Committee heard the voices of children and youth and children and youth want to be with their families. Committee recognizes that to raise healthy and well children and youth, supports and resources must be made available throughout their entire lives through parents, caregivers, family and even the broader community. The intention is to support the family and community so children and youth can remain with their families and within their home communities.
Culture
Culture is a source of strength, healing and positive identity. Over time, culture changes and innovates. Therefore, respectful incorporation of culture must be made to implement the recommendations made below.
Recommendation 1
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Government of the Northwest Territories declare the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in Child and Family Services a crisis and develop a whole of government response in partnership with Indigenous governments.
Recommendation 2
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services provide birthing support that is holistic, client-centered and culturally safe with doula and midwife services staffed in each regional centre.
Recommendation 3
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services establish a territorial treatment addictions recovery program or treatment supports specifically for youth to remain in the territory and to maintain their support systems.
Recommendation 4
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services create a pan-territorial youth homelessness plan that expands safe community-based housing options by collaborating with communities and non-governmental organizations.
Recommendation 5
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services tailor the Healthy Family Program for vulnerable families to access culturally safe and affirming child-rearing practices and expand the program to all 33 communities.
Recommendation 6
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends Municipal and Community Affairs lead an all-of-government approach to ensuring access to recreational programming by providing additional funding for recreational facilities and programming, so all families have increased access to these spaces outside regular business day hours and additional funding specifically for those children and youth in care to participate in extracurricular activities.
Recommendation 7
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services establish family mentorship pilot projects that pair vulnerable parents with grandparents or elders to share encouragement, child-rearing practices, and Indigenous knowledge.
Recommendation 8
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommend the Department of Health and Social Services increase funding to Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations to deliver addictions recovery on-the-land healing options specifically tailored to youth.
Recommendation 9
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services lead work with communities to establish culturally safe and gender-inclusive family violence emergency shelters in each NWT community with sustainable funding.
Recommendation 10
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services deliver and make mandatory culturally safe and trauma-informed training for foster families.
Recommendation 11
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services establish a recruitment strategy to increase the number of Indigenous foster families, including encouraging extended families to care for children by providing additional financial resources and support.
Recommendation 12
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services develop a Child and Family Services evaluation and monitoring framework, including a data profile on children and youth in care.
Recommendation 13
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services establish an Indigenous advisory body sub-committee specifically for Child and Family Services.
Recommendation 14
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services audit all Child and Family Services resources, ensuring they are all plain language, culturally safe and easily accessible online, including a plain language summary of the Child and Family Services Act.
Recommendation 15
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services provide legal services to parents as early as the plan of care stage with Child and Family Services.
Recommendation 16
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services make legislative changes to the Child and Family Service Act to support the readiness of Indigenous governments to draw down jurisdiction for child welfare, using trauma-informed language, that centers children and youth as individuals with rights, ensures cultural continuity for Indigenous children and youth, and affirms the unique political relationship with Indigenous groups and peoples.
Recommendation 17
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the Department of Health and Social Services establish a comprehensive spectrum of services available to children, youth and adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, and their parents and/or caregivers, to prevent developmental delay and mobilize support for families.
Recommendation 18
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Department of Health and Social Services annual quality improvement plan reporting include progress on the Committee's recommendations.
Recommendation 19
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report in 120 days.
Conclusion
The committee respectfully puts these recommendations forward in the hopes that it will benefit all children, youth and families in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that the remainder of Committee Report 26-19(2) be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.