FIRST NATIONS CHILD POVERTY: a Literature Review and Analysis Melisa Brittain and Cindy Blackstock 2015
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FIRST NATIONS CHILD POVERTY: A Literature Review and Analysis Melisa Brittain and Cindy Blackstock 2015 Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Published by First Nations Children’s Action Research and Education Service (FNCARES) www.fncaringsociety.com/fncares Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 5 A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: ECHOES OF COLONIALISM IN FIRST NATIONS CHILD POVERTY ........................................................................................ 7 Colonial policy targets Aboriginal children ............................................................................... 8 Poverty rates for First Nations children .................................................................................. 10 Urgent action required .............................................................................................................. 11 References ................................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER TWO POVERTY BY DESIGN: THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT’S MASTER PROJECT .................................................................................................................... 17 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 17 The deliberate impoverishment of First Nations: Displacement, assimilation and forced dependence ............................................................... 20 Land loss and displacement ........................................................................................................................... 21 The Royal Proclamation and “gradual civilization” ............................................................................. 25 The Indian Act: From self-governing to “wards of the crown” ....................................................... 28 Residential schools: The economics of stealing children ........................................................ 29 “Aggressive Civilization”: Industrial schools and Aboriginal child labour ................................ 31 “We didn’t learn anything”: A legacy of disadvantage ........................................................................ 36 References ................................................................................................................................ 37 CHAPTER THREE DEFINING AND MEASURING FIRST NATIONS CHILD POVERTY .............. 44 Poverty lines: Relative versus absolute measures ................................................................... 44 Standard measures and (un)available data ............................................................................. 46 Coming up short: Insufficiency of standard measures for First Nations ................................ 48 Culturally appropriate measures and interpretive models ..................................................... 50 References ................................................................................................................................ 55 FIRST NATIONS CHILD POVERTY: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS 1 CHAPTER FOUR ENDURING LEGACIES: CHILD WELFARE, UNDERFUNDING AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS ............................................................ 60 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 60 Section I .................................................................................................................................... 60 Exacerbating the risk factors: Contemporary child removal and the chronic underfunding of essential services ....................................................................... 60 “Not properly cared for”: Residential schools as child welfare institutions ............................. 61 Legacies of residential school and the growth of the child welfare industry ........................... 64 “Export products”: The socio-economics of the Sixties Scoop ........................................................ 67 Disturbing similarities, disturbing differences: Child welfare and residential schools ....... 69 Poverty major cause of overrepresentation in child welfare system .......................................... 71 Children as profit: More critiques of the child welfare industry ................................................... 73 Further consequences of foster and institutional care for children and youth ....................... 75 Chronic and ongoing government underfunding: Deepening poverty and heightening risks for children ..................................................................... 77 The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal: Inequitable funding in First Nations child welfare ........................................................................................................................ 78 Multiple funding inequities increase risks and removal under neglect portfolio .................. 79 Section II .................................................................................................................................. 81 Calculating colonial history: Multiple socio-economic impacts ............................................. 81 Inequitable education ....................................................................................................................................... 81 Highest unemployment and lowest income levels .............................................................................. 83 Substandard and inadequate housing ....................................................................................................... 86 Highest rates of homelessness ...................................................................................................................... 89 Health disparities: Historical and socioeconomic determinants ................................................... 90 Emotional stress and suicide ......................................................................................................................... 91 Experiences with disability ............................................................................................................................ 92 Food insecurity, past and present ............................................................................................................... 93 Violence .................................................................................................................................................................. 95 Sexual exploitation and criminalization ................................................................................................... 99 Incarceration ...................................................................................................................................................... 100 References .............................................................................................................................. 102 2 CONTENTS CHAPTER FIVE POVERTY INTERVENTIONS: ENSURING FIRST NATIONS CHILD WELL-BEING ................................................................. 118 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 118 Section I ................................................................................................................................... 119 Poverty Intervention Criteria .................................................................................................. 119 Self-determination and adequate funding ............................................................................................. 119 Revitalizing tradition to strengthen self-governance ....................................................................... 120 Holistic and multi-faceted approach ........................................................................................................ 120 Creating respectful partnerships ............................................................................................................... 121 Paternalism and failure to consult: Government-imposed solutions ........................................ 122 Section II ................................................................................................................................ 125 Closing the funding gap ......................................................................................................... 125 A legal intervention: The Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations child welfare ............... 126 Educating the public: The role of social movements ........................................................................ 127 Differential responses in child welfare reduce poverty-related apprehensions .................. 128 Additional interventions for reducing structural risk related to poverty ............................... 129 Section III ............................................................................................................................... 130 First Nations economic development and its discontents .................................................... 130 Entrepreneurship and successful business models .........................................................................