Forcible foster care 'genocide': UN Declaration

UOI OFFICES, Nov. 24 /CNW/ - Anishinabek have the right to keep their children in their own communities, including those who require foster care.

"Other governments must put a stop to the harm that has been caused to thousands of our kids - first in residential schools, then in foster homes," said Deputy grand Chief Glen Hare. "They have to give us the resources our communities need to look after our own children; their welfare is more important than providing jobs for outside agencies."

"And now that Canada has finally endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," he added, "it needs to understand that forcibly removing children from one group of peoples to another is considered genocide by the standards of international law."

Hare noted that a Human Rights complaint has been filed against Canada for its funding of First Nations child welfare agencies across the country at an average of 22 per cent less than the budgets of provincial agencies like Children's Aid Societies.

The Anishinabek Nation established the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949.  The UOI is a political advocate for 40 member communities across Ontario, representing approximately 55,000 people.  The Union of Ontario Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact. 

For further information:

Marci Becking
Communications Officer
Union of Ontario Indians
Phone: [phone] (ext. 2290)
Cell:  [phone]
E-mail:  [email protected]
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