Karen Osachoff and Melissa Walterson would’ve grown up together as sisters if not for the foster care system. They were separated and grew up “alone” with their respective foster families, Osachoff told attendees of the Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN) Special Chiefs Assembly on Wednesday.
The separation of First Nations siblings by today’s foster care system has drawn parallels to the residential school system and the ‘60s Scoop, both of which split apart families at great emotional cost.
Osachoff and Walterson are plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit, launched by the sisters and other survivors, for compensation over a discriminatory child-welfare system that sees thousands of First Nations youth taken from their communities. Osachoff is also a trained lawyer and worked on the case.
The AFN voted Wednesday for the immediate release of half of the $40 billion in federal funding promised in an agreement in principle signed earlier this year. That settlement — the largest in Canadian history — includes $20 billion set aside for compensating survivors of child-welfare services and another $20 billion for system reform.
The agreement signed between the AFN and Canada was set to address a 2016 ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that found Canada underfunded First Nations child-welfare services. However, the tribunal rejected part of the proposal in October over concerns it would not provide each child who had suffered under the system with the $40,000 in compensation they were awarded in the original ruling.
The chiefs extended the assembly Wednesday night to vote on resolutions calling for the federal government to both release the already promised money and extend the time frame for signing a final settlement agreement on long-term reform of the child-welfare system.
The resolutions urged the AFN to pursue negotiations for additional compensation for families, direct Canada to provide supports for youth in the foster care system until age 26 and seek a minimum 12-month pause before signing the final agreement to determine who will participate in the class-action lawsuit against Canada.
Ashley Dawn Bach, another plaintiff in the class action, spoke to the assembly about the importance of releasing the funds.
She told a story about meeting a young woman who was living on the street. It was the beginning of the pandemic, and all services were closed. They talked and discovered they were both from the same territory and both had survived the foster care system. The young woman had just aged out of the foster care system without any supports. She told Bach she had tried to end her life that day.
Bach told the assembly she thinks about the young woman every day and how her life would’ve been different if she had received compensation.
Cindy Blackstock, who wasn’t scheduled to speak at the assembly until a motion was passed, told those gathered that they should take a “yes and” approach to compensation and reform of the child-welfare system. “Yes and” refers to getting families compensation as quickly as possible while taking the long-term approach of returning to the negotiation table for additional compensation and reform measures.
Both Blackstock and the AFN launched a discrimination claims in 2007 over Canada’s mishandling of First Nations Child and Family Services, which caused harm and the separation of families.
By voting in favour of the resolutions, the chiefs would be taking the “yes and” approach, Blackstock said.
The chiefs’ vote will direct the AFN’s executive committee moving forward on the child-welfare file.
Another resolution is in development overnight to end discrimination in the child-welfare system for years to come, Blackstock said before the vote was held.
Matteo Cimellaro / Canada’s National Observer / Local Journalism Initiative
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