74% of youth in care in Alberta are Indigenous. Here's what 2 of them had to say
CBC
A new underground magazine circulating in Edmonton is sharing stories from youth in care — in their own words.
Zine & Heard, edited by youth advocate Penny Frazier, shares stories, art, tattoos and more from former youth in care.
In any given copy of the "punk rock-style" magazine (as described by Frazier) featuring poems, pictures and personal stories, you can also find statistics showing the grim realities facing youth in care.
That includes numbers like youth in care or transitioning out of care in B.C. between 2011 and 2016 died at five times the rate of other young people.
And in Alberta, like Canada as a whole, Indigenous youth are overrepresented in the child welfare system. As of December 2022, 74 per cent of youth in care in Alberta were Indigenous, even though they make up just 10 per cent of the youth population.
"With all of those stats combined, it doesn't make sense that I'm sitting in the position that I'm sitting in," said Cassie St. Germain, 26, who is Cree and Métis.
She said she hopes to contribute to an upcoming issue of Zine & Heard, although she described her experience in the child welfare system as "moderate."
St. Germain said her memories of her family home involve her parents fighting. She and her siblings were malnourished and didn't attend school or "know how to speak properly," she said.
When she was five, she and her two older brothers were taken into custody. Their belongings were gathered up and put in a garbage bag when service workers arrived.
"We were all taken at the same time in the middle of the night. It was really scary," she said.
While that scene is familiar to many for youth in care, St. Germain said much of her experience with the foster care system was atypical. She and her brothers ended up in the same home and lived there for nearly a decade.
Her foster parents — who she now calls "mom" and "dad" — were a positive influence, but she said growing up was still lonely and difficult.
By the time she was 16, St. Germain said she was using drugs and struggling with her mental health (she said doctors now believe she has bipolar disorder) which led to a placement breakdown. She was then removed from her foster parents' home.
"Just being abandoned like that, that was really painful," she said.
