The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada
The Canadian child welfare system has increasingly found itself under attack for its treatment of First Nations children. The charge is made that it imposes a colonial regime on First Nations families which negates the importance of their cultural identity, and devalues their cultural practices and...
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ftubritcolallard:oai:commons.allard.ubc.ca:theses-1136 2023-05-15T16:14:23+02:00 The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada Harris, Sonia Ruth 2009-03-24T07:00:00Z text/html https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/theses/137 https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0077479 unknown Allard Research Commons https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/theses/137 https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0077479 For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Indians of North America - Canada - Self-government Indian children - Canada Child welfare - Canada text 2009 ftubritcolallard 2022-01-30T16:33:00Z The Canadian child welfare system has increasingly found itself under attack for its treatment of First Nations children. The charge is made that it imposes a colonial regime on First Nations families which negates the importance of their cultural identity, and devalues their cultural practices and traditions. Self-government is consistently advanced as the only appropriate response. The question this thesis addresses is whether too much faith is placed in self-government, without sufficient protections for children in the communities. The issue of First Nations child welfare is placed within the wider debates over the need for decolonisation in Canada. It is a premise of this thesis that First Nations hold an inherent right to self-government which demands respect for their sovereign authority in core areas such as child welfare. However, self-government is not a panacea for First Nations communities. The legacy of colonialism continues to manifest itself in the socioeconomic problems prevalent on many reserves/These problems pose a direct challenge to self-governing child welfare agencies and to the safety of the children in their care. This raises the dilemma of how to ensure the fundamental rights of First Nations children are effectively protected, whilst also respecting the 'sovereign' jurisdiction of First Nations communities. The attempts of non-native society to impose controls on First Nations governments, principally through the imposition of the Canadian Charter, are rejected on the basis they continue to perpetuate a colonial philosophy. However, adopting a theory of 'rejuvenated universalism,' and on the basis of a dialogue with three native controlled child welfare agencies in British Columbia, it is argued that agreement on fundamental standards of child welfare could be forged across native and non-native cultures. It is suggested these standards should be guaranteed in a Children's Charter binding all governments in Canada. A Children's Charter which has been developed through fully inclusive cross-cultural dialogue, and which consequently reflects the values of all the various cultures, would provide an essential mechanism for the external evaluation and review of child welfare agencies in Canada, whether native or non-native, according to their own freely accepted values and principles. Text First Nations Allard Research Commons (Peter A. Allard School of Law) British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canada Indian |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Allard Research Commons (Peter A. Allard School of Law) |
op_collection_id |
ftubritcolallard |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Indians of North America - Canada - Self-government Indian children - Canada Child welfare - Canada |
spellingShingle |
Indians of North America - Canada - Self-government Indian children - Canada Child welfare - Canada Harris, Sonia Ruth The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada |
topic_facet |
Indians of North America - Canada - Self-government Indian children - Canada Child welfare - Canada |
description |
The Canadian child welfare system has increasingly found itself under attack for its treatment of First Nations children. The charge is made that it imposes a colonial regime on First Nations families which negates the importance of their cultural identity, and devalues their cultural practices and traditions. Self-government is consistently advanced as the only appropriate response. The question this thesis addresses is whether too much faith is placed in self-government, without sufficient protections for children in the communities. The issue of First Nations child welfare is placed within the wider debates over the need for decolonisation in Canada. It is a premise of this thesis that First Nations hold an inherent right to self-government which demands respect for their sovereign authority in core areas such as child welfare. However, self-government is not a panacea for First Nations communities. The legacy of colonialism continues to manifest itself in the socioeconomic problems prevalent on many reserves/These problems pose a direct challenge to self-governing child welfare agencies and to the safety of the children in their care. This raises the dilemma of how to ensure the fundamental rights of First Nations children are effectively protected, whilst also respecting the 'sovereign' jurisdiction of First Nations communities. The attempts of non-native society to impose controls on First Nations governments, principally through the imposition of the Canadian Charter, are rejected on the basis they continue to perpetuate a colonial philosophy. However, adopting a theory of 'rejuvenated universalism,' and on the basis of a dialogue with three native controlled child welfare agencies in British Columbia, it is argued that agreement on fundamental standards of child welfare could be forged across native and non-native cultures. It is suggested these standards should be guaranteed in a Children's Charter binding all governments in Canada. A Children's Charter which has been developed through fully inclusive cross-cultural dialogue, and which consequently reflects the values of all the various cultures, would provide an essential mechanism for the external evaluation and review of child welfare agencies in Canada, whether native or non-native, according to their own freely accepted values and principles. |
format |
Text |
author |
Harris, Sonia Ruth |
author_facet |
Harris, Sonia Ruth |
author_sort |
Harris, Sonia Ruth |
title |
The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada |
title_short |
The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada |
title_full |
The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada |
title_fullStr |
The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada |
title_sort |
road back from hell? : first nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in canada |
publisher |
Allard Research Commons |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/theses/137 https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0077479 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
British Columbia Canada Indian |
geographic_facet |
British Columbia Canada Indian |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
op_relation |
https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/theses/137 https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0077479 |
op_rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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1766000192336691200 |