‘I screamed’: B.C. Indigenous child welfare advocates celebrate court victory

Indigenous children continue to be overrepresented in provincial care. As of March 2022, they made up 68 per cent of youth in care in B.C.

WARNING: This story deals with disturbing subject matter that may upset and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.

Indigenous child welfare advocates in B.C. are celebrating a “huge win” in Ottawa on Friday, where a federal law affirming that First Nations, Métis and Inuit people have sole authority to protect their children was upheld in court.

Mary Teegee, chair of the Indigenous Child and Family Services Directors Forum, said she heard the news in a morning phone call from her lawyer, who told her the case had been “won on every point.”

“Of course I screamed, I was really happy, it was just a great wonderful moment for our children — a huge win for our children,” Teegee told Global News. “Our most important resource is our children.”

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to deny Quebec’s appeal of Bill C-92 was unanimous. In 2022, Quebec had won in the Court of Appeal, which found parts of the act overstepped federal jurisdiction.

Indigenous Peoples have always had an inherent right to self-government and to care for their children.

Mountains of research and testimony have documented the intergenerational trauma and harm caused by various colonial interventions in the lives of Indigenous children and families.

More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken from their families beginning in the 1830s and imprisoned in residential schools, where the church and state sought to erase their languages, cultures and identities. Countless thousands were subjected to gratuitous abuse and an unknown number — many thousands — never returned.