The province has ordered the cessation of birth alerts, which have long been reported to disproportionately affect indigenous families, in response to the 2019 Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The parent is not notified of these alerts, which could result in the service removing the baby from the parent immediately after birth. However, Matawa First Nation leaders say their members have told them that childcare services continue to make birth warning arrangements with staff at the Thunder Bay Regional Center for Health Sciences. Matawa members must travel to Thunder Bay to give birth because health centers in their communities do not provide non-emergency maternity care. “It is unfortunate for the Matawa Board of Governors that – two years after the Ontario Government’s termination order – we continue to hear that birth warnings continue to occur in Thunder Bay and in municipalities where Matawa women give birth. their babies, “said Webequie First Nation leader Cornelius Wabasse in a statement. In the Ontario Legislature on Wednesday, Kiiwetinoong NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, representing the communities of Matawa, called the birth notices a “gross violation of the rights of the child, mother and indigenous community as a whole” and described the practice “traumatic in our nations”. Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Center and Dilico Anishinabek Family Care did not respond to a request for comment or comment from CBC.
Ask for services for indigenous peoples
Cora McGuire-Cyrette, executive director of the Ontario Native Women’s Association, is not surprised to hear the allegations, calling them the “tip of the iceberg” of anti-indigenous systemic racism at Thunder Bay Hospital. “We are dealing with deep-rooted, systemic racist views within the system, and even the practice of ending birth warnings, direction and political will. We knew this would not happen overnight,” he said. “We need to look at the healthcare system, what needs to happen next. We have made recommendations, as well as Truth and Reconciliation. [Commission] calls for action. There are specific actions for the health care system 18 to 31, so I would like to know what Thunder Bay Regional Hospital has done for any of these actions. ” McGuire-Cyrette calls on healthcare providers to start open discussions about the quality of services that Native patients receive.
Matawa pushed for change before the Ontario directive
Birth notices have stopped in much of Canada, but some controversy remains. Long before the cessation of childbirth alerts in Ontario took effect, a Matava community argued to ensure that newborns would stay with their expectant mothers. In 2014, Judy Desmoulin, a city councilor at the time, contacted a member living in Long Lake # 58 First Nation. The woman was seven months pregnant when she received a call from the family that had raised her in foster care. She thought she was being called to catch up, but was told that child services had asked the family to raise her baby after birth. “Especially with this first case, I saw absolutely no reason why anyone should remove this child from this family,” Desmulin said, adding that the woman had enrolled in smoking cessation and family planning programs at the time. . Desmoulin believed she and the agency had confirmed the support plan, but when the mother started giving birth, she drove 300 miles to Thunder Bay to be there, just in case. He recalls that law enforcement, security and social workers were waiting to pick up the baby. He told them that under the Child Welfare Act, the community has the right to say a child’s well-being. “And I said, ‘Okay, let’s get dressed.’ “Let’s get this baby in his pram and leave,” Desmoulins recalls. “So that told me that, yes, this part of the law had some weight. And we have never stopped since.” The First Nation leadership continued to ensure that an ombudsman was present at the hospital for every subsequent mother, and for the next eight years, Desmoulin said, none of the 100 babies born to Long Lake # 58 members were confiscated. at birth. When he was elected leader, Desmulen advised the other eight Matava leaders to provide their members with the same defense. This led to the Awashishewiigiihiwaywiin (The Social Services Framework) program.
The program aims to help keep families together
From 2019, the program aims to create support that helps keep families together. He has connected 61 families with doctors, completed 71 housing applications and referred 63 families to mental health care providers, while helping 28 receive rehab services. It also provided traditional support to 24 families such as elders and ceremonies. For Desmoulin, the project involves trying to end a “direct link” between home schools, the Sixties Scoop and the over-representation of indigenous children in care. Far back when, there were statements written to “take the Indian from the child”. “This is another modern form of how the government seems to perpetuate this plan,” said Desmoulin. The Canadian government must formally remove this idea of ”getting the Indian out of the child.” That is not going to happen. “
