Rethinking Racine v Woods from a Decolonizing Perspective: Challenging the Applicability of Attachment Theory to Indigenous Families Involved with Child Protection

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (01) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Peter W. Choate ◽  
Taylor Kohler ◽  
Felicia Cloete ◽  
Brandy CrazyBull ◽  
Desi Lindstrom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Relational Theory ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Essential Point ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation

AbstractThe 1983 case Racine v Woods is the leading child protection case from the Supreme Court of Canada, distinguishing bonding and/or attachment as a more important determinant of best interest for an Indigenous child than cultural connection. Using this case, courts are upholding the permanent placement of Indigenous children in non-Indigenous homes as opposed to placement within their culture. Racine v Woods reflected knowledge of attachment and family at that time but runs counter to current knowledge. Reconsideration of the factors to decide cross-cultural adoption is needed. The essential point is that attachment assessment draws from a dyadic relational theory and is being applied to communal family systems, such as Indigenous systems. Such a review is consistent with the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as well as its predecessor, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP), and recent Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) decisions.

scholarly journals A Bridge to Reconciliation: A Critique of the Indian Residential School Truth Commission

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Flisfeder
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada ◽  
Dispute Resolution Mechanism

In the past year, the Government of Canada has established the Indian Residential Schools (IRS) Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to address the deleterious effect that the IRS system has had on Aboriginal communities. This paper argues that the TRC as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism is flawed since it focuses too much on truth at the expense of reconciliation. While the proliferation of historical truths is of great importance, without mapping a path to reconciliation, the Canadian public will simply learn about the mistakes of the past without addressing the residual, communal impacts of the IRS system that continue to linger. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission must therefore approach its mandate broadly and in a manner reminiscent of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples of 1996.

scholarly journals Sustaining Cultural Genocide—A Look at Indigenous Children in Non-Indigenous Placement and the Place of Judicial Decision Making—A Canadian Example

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Peter Choate ◽  
Roy Bear Chief ◽  
Desi Lindstrom ◽  
Brandy CrazyBull
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Cultural Genocide ◽  
The Sixties

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called upon Canada to engage in a process of reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Child Welfare is a specific focus of their Calls to Action. In this article, we look at the methods in which discontinuing colonization means challenging legal precedents as well as the types of evidence presented. A prime example is the ongoing deference to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Racine v Woods which imposes Euro-centric understandings of attachment theory, which is further entrenched through the neurobiological view of raising children. There are competing forces observed in the Ontario decision on the Sixties Scoop, Brown v Canada, which has detailed the harm inflicted when colonial focused assimilation is at the heart of child welfare practice. The carillon of change is also heard in a series of decisions from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in response to complaints from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations regarding systemic bias in child welfare services for First Nations children living on reserves. Canadian federal legislation Bill C-92, “An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families”, brings in other possible avenues of change. We offer thoughts on manners decolonization might be approached while emphasizing that there is no pan-Indigenous solution. This article has implications for other former colonial countries and their child protection systems.

Instructive Past: Lessons from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples for the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jula Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

AbstractOver time, the Canadian state has used a variety of mechanisms to address its troubled relationship with its indigenous population, the most prominent of which so far was the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). RCAP was mandated to develop both a constitutional framework and a comprehensive social-welfare policy. Staffed predominantly with constitutional lawyers, it articulated a sophisticated constitutional theory, which was not implemented, and did little to ameliorate the living conditions of Aboriginal people. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools (TRC), while arising from the settlement of a national class action, can be seen as a successor commission to RCAP. It follows in the procedural footprints of RCAP in a number of ways, including in the profile of its key appointments. This article argues that looking back at the successes and failures of RCAP can be instructive for the TRC as it carries out its mandate, allowing us to predict some areas that will be particularly challenging. In these areas, the TRC will require a departure from the RCAP blueprint if it is to achieve the ambitious goals of a TRC in a non-transitional-justice context.

The Triumph of Olemaun: Survivance, Empathic Unsettlement, and Restorying the History of Canadian Residential Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-146
Author(s):  
Anah-Jayne Markland
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Mandatory Education ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Age Appropriate

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.

Media Practices and Painful Pasts: The Public Testimonial in Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2013 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda J. Brady
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Majority Culture ◽  
Aboriginal Children ◽  
Media Practices

From the 1870s through the 1990s, more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were enrolled in government-funded, church-run Indian Residential Schools (IRS) in Canada. The schools reflected policies aimed at assimilating Aboriginal peoples into majority culture. Many Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes and suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuses. As part of its Mandate, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) collects testimonials from residential school survivors in various mediated forms to create a historical record. This article explores the TRC's public statement-gathering process and the ways in which media practices shape and guide testimonials. It argues that the TRC encourages particular survivor narratives as it signals to speakers that they should anticipate the norms and uses of media and narrative guidelines. However, there is a layer of meta-narrative common in TRC statements, suggesting resistance to and subversion of the process. This article considers the nuances of First Nations testimonials against the backdrop of storytelling traditions.

The Genocide Question and Indian Residential Schools in Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. MacDonald ◽  
Graham Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Genocide Convention ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Cultural Genocide ◽  
Indian Residential Schools ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Le Canada

Abstract. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been investigating the array of crimes committed in Canada's Indian Residential Schools. Genocide is being invoked with increasing regularity to describe the crimes inflicted within the IRS system, the intent behind those crimes, and the legacies that have flowed from them. We ask the following questions. Did Canada commit genocide against Aboriginal peoples by attempting to forcibly assimilate them in residential schools? How does the UN Genocide Convention help interpret genocide claims? If not genocide, what other descriptors are more appropriate? Our position might be described as “fence sitting”: whether genocide was committed cannot be definitively settled at this time. This has to do with polyvalent interpretations of the term, coupled with the growing body of evidence the TRC is building up. We favour using the term cultural genocide as a “ground floor” and a means to legally and morally interpret the IRS system.Résumé. La Commission de vérité et réconciliation a enquêté sur la matrice de crimes commis dans les pensionnats indiens au Canada. Le mot génocide est invoqué avec une régularité croissante pour décrire les crimes infligés au sein du système des pensionnats, l'intention derrière ces crimes, et l'héritage qui s'en est ensuivie. Nous posons les questions suivantes: le Canada a-t-il commis le génocide contre les élèves Aborigènes en essayant de les assimiler de force dans des pensionnats indiens? Comment la Convention des Nations Unies sur la prévention de génocide peut-elle aider interprétations des revendications de génocide ? Si ce pas de génocide, quel autre descripteur est plus approprié ? Notre position pourrait être décrite comme « séance de clôture »: la question de génocide ne peut être réglée définitivement en ce moment. Cela concerne les interprétations polyvalentes du terme, couplé avec le corps grandissant d'évidence que le CVR accumule. Nous préférons le terme génocide culturel comme « un rez-de-chaussée » et comme un moyen de légalement et moralement interpréter le système IRS.

Human Rights Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Butt ◽  
Tim Lindsey
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Human Rights Abuse ◽  
National Human ◽  
Legal Responses ◽  
National Human Rights Commissions

This chapter focuses on legal protections for human rights in Indonesia, many of which developed after the fall of Soeharto in response to abuses committed during his rule. It begins with an account of international human rights instruments ratified in Indonesia, before providing an overview of domestic Indonesian regulation, and national human rights commissions: Komnas HAM, the Child Protection Commission, and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (KOMNAS Perempuan). It also deals with the largely ineffectual permanent and ad hoc human rights courts and the now-defunct Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The chapter concludes with case studies of legal responses to controversial cases of human rights abuse, including East Timor, Tanjung Priok, Trisakti, and the two Semanggi incidents.

scholarly journals EKSISTENSI LEMBAGA NEGARA DALAM PENEGAKAN HAK ASASI MANUSIA DI INDONESIA

FIAT JUSTISIA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Amin Putra
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
The Right

In the framework of the protection and enforcement of Human Rights by state institutions among implemented by: National Commission on Human Rights, Indonesian Child Protection Commission, National Commission for Women, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its development, it was disbanded because it does not correspond to the actual functions and duties so it does not give justice to the community. Besides carried out by the Commission, established by the State, protection and enforcement of Human Rights today is mostly done by the judiciary, especially after the reform. Among them are: the Specific Human Rights court, severe Human Rights court and the Constitutional Court who has the authority to test Legislations on the Constitution 1945. In the development, the Constitutional Court more precisely to the protection and enforcement of Human Rights to the citizens with the many rulings on the legislation is unconstitutional, and the Constitutional Court's decision was a strategic value and is able to uphold Human Rights for citizens. The essence of the protection and enforcement of Human Rights greatly influenced the position of the judge in deciding the case, so the judge has a role to uphold the independence and impartiality both as an institution and as individuals. Besides other factor is their right to receive legal aid, the pattern of justice has shown that the right to get a legal assistance is an attempt for equality in law as part of the fulfillment of Human Rights.Keywords: State Institutions, Human Rights, Enforcement

scholarly journals So Near Yet So Far: The Extent of Aboriginal Inclusion in Canada

Federalism-E ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Melanie Gillis
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Canadian Federalism ◽  
Aboriginal Children ◽  
Residential Schooling

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) visited Halifax October 2011 to recount the atrocities which occurred in residential schools in Canada. For over one hundred years Aboriginal children attended these government-funded schools aimed at extinguishing the culture, spirituality, and knowledge of Aboriginal Peoples.1 Although extreme, the example of residential schooling demonstrates that Aboriginals were considered outsiders in Canada. While the schools themselves no longer exist, the debate about Aboriginals and the extent to which they are outsiders in the Canadian federal system persists. Political scientist Jennifer Smith (2004) contributes to this debate by describing who is ‘in’ and ‘out’ in terms of Canadian federalism [...]

scholarly journals The Validity of Self-Report Measures in Assessing Historical Knowledge: The Case of Canada’s Residential Schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg D. B. Boese ◽  
Katelin H. S. Neufeld ◽  
Katherine B. Starzyk
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Residential School ◽  
Baseline Measure ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
School Knowledge ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) strives to increase public education regarding residential schools. A baseline measure of the public’s residential school knowledge could be useful to evaluate the progress of the TRC. The National Benchmark Survey, Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study, and Canadian Public Opinion on Aboriginal Peoples Report are three existing surveys that provide such a baseline, though each use only self-report measures. We measured residential school knowledge of 2,250 non-Indigenous Canadian undergraduate students through self-report (subjective) and multiple-choice (objective) measures. Analyses revealed a statistically significant correlation between self-reported and objective knowledge of residential schools.

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