First Nations, Métis and Inuit Children and Youth: TIME TO
ACT
FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 18, 2007
Bolder action needed to give Aboriginal children and youth
a decent life
A new report released today concludes that bolder, more
innovative government action is needed to give Aboriginal
children and youth a decent chance in life.
The report, First Nations, Métis and Inuit
Children and Youth: Time to Act, was prepared by
the National Council of Welfare (NCW), a federal advisory
body, to draw attention not only to the discrimination and
poverty faced by many Aboriginal children and youth but also
to the many success stories. It combines statistical evidence
with interviews with Aboriginal women and men who work with
children and youth. The report notes that Council members, in
the process of researching the report, were astounded at the
patience of Aboriginal people and themselves felt a sense of
frustration and impatience for bolder action.
Council Chairperson Dr. John Rook stresses that
“Aboriginal women and men are at the centre of creating a
better life for their children and young people and they are
finding solutions that work. Governments need to act now and
in new ways, to genuinely work with Aboriginal people and
support them more fully in their own decisions about what is
needed.”
The Council encourages Canadians to build understanding
and support for Aboriginal peoples. As Dr. Rook says,
“this makes Canada a better place for all of us.” The
Council also urges government action that includes: a
comprehensive national anti-poverty strategy, with specific
vision and accountability to Aboriginal peoples; immediate
investment in basic needs for today’s children and youth, and
in other programs and policies that are making a difference,
and; greater effort to build fair, sustainable governance
frameworks in the interests of a better quality of life for
all Aboriginal women, men and children.
In the Council’s report, a two-fold picture of the
prospects for First Nations, Métis and Inuit children emerges.
One is a portrait of Aboriginal children and young people
often still caught in a legacy of colonialism, racism and
exclusion. Their developmental years are fraught with high
rates of poverty and its related causes and consequences from
health problems, poor housing and educational difficulties to
astounding numbers of children taken into state care and of
youth in trouble with the law or victims of violent crime. The
other side of the portrait shows progress, even in the face of
these obstacles. Aboriginal individuals, families,
organizations and communities are finding solutions, acting as
role models, developing successful programs and providing the
keys that restore hope for future generations.
The report is available at http://www.ncwcnbes.net/
The NCW is an independent body established to advise the
federal government on issues related to poverty and social
development. For further information, please contact Claudette
Mann at claudette.mann@hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca
or:
National Council of Welfare
112 Kent Street, 9th
Floor
Place de Ville, Tower B
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0J9
Telephone: (613) 957-2961
Fax: (613)
957-0680
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