Some stories are devastating to live through. Some stories are carried through generations. Some stories live through decades or even centuries with little noticeable change.
Cindy Blackstock, Canadian Activist
And then we hear the words of Cindy Blackstock.
Ms. Blackstock is a member of the Gitksan First Nation and has 25 years in the field of child protection and indigenous children’s rights. She has worked tirelessly at the level of United Nations and collaborated with indigenous youth, UNICEF, and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to produce a youth-friendly version of the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
She has seen the darkest side of the adoption system. She has witnessed over and over the devastating effects of child protection services on indigenous families. She has known the resistance to change of elected officials and the non-engagement of a settler population.
And yet….and yet…this is what she said recently,
“If we can raise a generation of First Nations kids who never have to recover from their childhoods, and a generation of non-indigenous kids who never have to say they’re sorry, then I think we have made a major step in co-creating a society that our ancestors always dreamed of, and that our great, great, great-grandchildren would be proud of.”
Nothing rational explains how one arrives at an authentic belief in a radically different future. While it is relatively easy to understand the presence of cynicism or rage or disillusionment in our lives, we have a more tenuous grasp on persistent resilience and even more than resilience, a rather luminous hope or gratitude.
It makes no sense and it will be what saves us.
-Sister Margo Ritchie, csj
What you can do:
The I am a Witness campaign invites people to learn about the case on First Nations child welfare and Jordan's Principle and to decide for themselves whether or not they think there is discrimination against First Nations children and youth. Visit the Tribunal Timeline and Documents for the latest on the case.