Disrupting the Continuities Among Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, and Child Welfare: An Analysis of Colonial and Neocolonial Discourses

Abstract

In Canada, it is estimated that 3 times as many Indigenous children are currently in the care of the state compared to when the residential schools' populations were at their peak. It is imperative that action be taken. This article explores the continuities among residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and child welfare in Canada today. In particular, we examine how colonial and neocolonial discourses operate through and justify these policies and practices. We propose nine policy recommendations, which aim to transform child welfare and support Indigenous families to care for their children. Although transformative policy change is unlikely within this neocolonial and neoliberal climate, the recent change in federal leadership has made it more possible to move these policy recommendations forward.

Navigating Structural Violence with Indigenous Families: The Contested Terrain of Early Childhood Intervention and the Child Welfare System in Canada

“…In this socio-political landscape, federal and provincial governments in Canada largely ignore the need to invest in Indigenous early childhood programming that could support family preservation and children's optimal health and well-being, as well as reduce the number of Indigenous children in state "care" (Hughes, 2013;John, 2016;Tait et al, 2013). This study provides insight into how AIDPs, as a province-wide Indigenous early childhood intervention program in B.C., can disrupt the continuities between residential schools and neoliberal child welfare policies, and thereby the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next (McKenzie et al, 2016). Importantly, these findings raise concerns about an increasingly close and complex relationship between AIDPs and the child welfare system.…”

“…Prior to colonization, Indigenous children were frequently raised, cared for, and educated within extended and interdependent systems of relationships, which helped to ensure their safety and well-being (Irvine, 2009). However, multiple generations of Indigenous children have grown up denied of their families, communities, and ancestry as a result of historical and ongoing colonial policies and practices underpinned by assimilation, paternalism, and protectionism (McKenzie, Varcoe, Browne, & Day, 2016). For over 100 years, the state attempted to assert Canada's nationhood through a legislated and mandatory residential school system (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015).…”

“…Today, the continuity of colonial state power is structured through the contemporary child welfare system (McKenzie et al, 2016), which is upheld by enduring patriarchal and racialized discourses that portray Indigenous women as "unfit" mothers and their children as "at risk" (Cull, 2006;de Leeuw, 2014). In the province of B.C., where this research took place, Indigenous children currently comprise 8% of the total child population and 53% of the child population living in "out-of-home care" (Representative for Children and Youth, 2013).…”

Reclaiming Our Spirits: Development and Pilot Testing of a Health Promotion Intervention for Indigenous Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

“…Working from these principles, we revised the intervention materials, including the theoretical and empirical foundations, sample scripts used to train the nurses, and tools for use with women. Specifically, we (a) reduced class bias by removing assumptions such as that women would have homes or access to child care or a car; (b) attended to the fact that women may not have left abusive partners; (c) integrated greater attention to the diversity of women along multiple lines of difference and identity (e.g., ability, sexual and gender identity, Indigenous identity); and (d) recognizing the extent of state apprehensions of Indigenous children and over‐involvement of the state in child rearing of Indigenous children in Canada (Blackstock, ; Blackstock, Trocmé, & Bennett, ; McKenzie, Varcoe, Browne & Day, ; Sinha, Trocmé, Blackstock, MacLaurin, & Fallon, ; Trocmé et al, ), eliminated the assumption that women would have their children living with them. We also integrated recommendations from the feasibility studies (Ford‐Gilboe, Varcoe et al, ; Wuest et al, ) to (a) provide opportunities for women to meet and potentially support each other; (b) integrate more attention to substance use including training for nurses; and (c) pay more attention to spirituality.…”

Indigenous Peoples and genomics: Starting a conversation

“…The last residential schools were closed in the 1990s. The Sixties Scoop was the government‐sanctioned removal of Indigenous children from their families for adoption or fostering in primarily non‐Indigenous homes through to the 1980s (McKenzie, Varcoe, Brown, & Day, ). The facilitator took time to allow these discussions while reminding participants not to share confidential health information.…”