Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring society, has been at the heart of an ongoing battle with the federal government. While working as a social worker in B.C., Blackstock noticed that the child welfare program for First Nations kids living on-reserve received less funding than for kids living off reserve.
She, along with the Assembly of First Nations, filed a human rights complaint in 2007. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal agreed that federal underfunding of child welfare services on-reserve was discriminatory and led to thousands of children being unnecessarily taken into care.
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The tribunal ordered Ottawa to pay up to $40,000 to those affected by this discrimination. But the government has challenged the CHRT order on several occasions – including most recently last week. Cindy Blackstock is on the show to talk about what this most recent development means and where the fight for compensation goes from here.
Information from: The Globe and Mail
