The protesters at the Justice for Our Stolen Children Camp say they want sweeping changes to the Indigenous child welfare system, adoption processes and the incarceration of First Nations youth.
Camp spokesperson Michelle Stewart says following a meeting Monday with provincial government ministers, a conversation on how to fix these issues needs to take place.
“We’re not asking for modest reforms, we’re asking for paradigm shifting work. We’re reaching the point where we’re between 90-100 percent saturation of youth in custody, of youth in care and that we need to be having a different conversation,” Stewart said. “This isn’t a modest reform to child welfare acts, this isn’t a modest reform to police acts, and this isn’t a modest reform to the Coroner’s Act. These systems are fundamentally broken. They need to be built up from, the ground up, in consultation with Indigenous families and communities.”
Stewart laid out the expectations of what the camp proposed at the Fort Qu’Appelle meeting including; data on the number of First Nations children in care, duration of care for each child and make it public. A review of permanent and long term wards. The use of home supervision rather than apprehension. A moratorium on adoptions. An inquiry into the death of Haven Dubois, including Regina Police practices in 2015, and to convene a Ministerial Roundtable to meet within the next two weeks.
The camp has asked that the Central Services Ministry and the Provincial Capital Commission not try to attempt a forced eviction on the camp until after the follow-up meeting. “The province was asked that they leave the camp alone and they do not bother until we have our second meeting. If the police are here to force us out, it comes at the hands of the government,” Camp organizer Prescott Demas stated.
Demas said the government did not give them reassurances on whether the camp would remain.
Jim Billington, spokesperson to the Premier says in a written statement. “Yesterday, five Ministers met with over 20 representatives of the protest camp that has been set up in Wascana Park for the last number of months. Our government understands that many of the concerns are long-standing, and work continues with our Indigenous leaders, including our Tribal Council Chiefs and the FSIN to continue to address these issues,” Billington wrote. “While the Government of Saskatchewan recognizes the concerns raised by this group, we must now continue to work with Indigenous leadership on the best way to move forward. Our partnership with all Tribal Councils and the FSIN is one our government values. Their voices are critical as the leaders of our indigenous communities in Saskatchewan.”
(Photo: Protesters erecting signs at Wascana Park. By Dan Jones)