Indigenous children鈥檚 rights activist and AV俱乐部鈥檚 2022 Shaar Shalom keynote speaker, Cindy Blackstock (LLD鈥�18), says adults need to trust children with the truth. 鈥淭hey can handle it,鈥� Dr. Blackstock says, even when the truth is uncomfortable or horrifying.
She鈥檚 referring to the grim facts about Indigenous children鈥檚 mistreatment at Canada鈥檚 residential schools, in foster care and systemically.
Dr. Blackstock is executive director of . She鈥檚 also a professor at McGill University鈥檚 School of Social Work. Her many recognitions include an honorary doctorate from AV俱乐部. She has published more than 75 articles on topics relating to reconciliation, Indigenous theory, and First Nations child welfare and human rights.
With over 30 years experience working in this field, the discovery of more than a thousand bodies in unmarked graves at residential schools in 2021 was no surprise to Dr. Blackstock, who is a member of the Gitxsan First Nation. It did, however, shock a lot of non-Indigenous Canadians who, says Dr. Blackstock, have been subjected to a form of thought-control that prevented them, until that moment, from deeply considering the injustices Indigenous Canadians have faced.
But children, she says, are quicker to accept and react. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e way out ahead of adults,鈥� says Dr. Blackstock. Since 2012 she has been reading the letters children send to their members of parliament, asking government to do better for Indigenous children. The letters, she says, are invariably signed 鈥楲ove, [child鈥檚 name]鈥�.
鈥淭hey [children] base a social movement on love. They remind us how you defeat anger and injustice in society,鈥� says Dr. Blackstock.
Lecture title invokes the past and systemic denials
Blackstock鈥檚 March 3 lecture at Dal is titled Spirit Bear: Echoes of the Past.
She says it references the myths we tell ourselves to justify our actions, such as, 鈥榃e didn鈥檛 know.鈥�
鈥淲e hear a lot about residential schools. But phrases like 鈥榠t was a dark chapter鈥� (in Canadian history) don鈥檛 help us nor credit the spirits of children in those unmarked graves.鈥� The contemporary injustices (facing Indigenous people) are a deliberate choice by governments, not a failure, says Blackstock. She goes on to ask, 鈥淐an we break the pattern? Can we hold our focus long enough to hold government to account?鈥�
Dr. Blackstock references Peter Henderson Bryce (1853-1932) who wrote the book about needless deaths in residential schools. He was the first Chief Medical Officer of the Department of the Interior in 1904 around 20 years after Sir John A. MacDonald made First Nations children official wards of the state. In 1907, Dr. Bryce released a report that showed roughly one-quarter of all Indigenous children attending residential schools had died preventable deaths from tuberculosis. Dr. Bryce called for a major overhaul, lamenting Canadians鈥� indifference to the medical wellness of First Nations children and underscoring the extent to which the mass apprehension of Indigenous children was not merely cultural but biological genocide.
Government chose not to act, says Dr. Blackstock. 鈥淭he story died out and so did the children,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e missed all these opportunities and continue missing them right up to today. Now, we have an opportunity to disrupt those patterns of thought control and colonialism. Canadian citizens have shown their own power. They鈥檙e paying attention. They鈥檙e asking questions.鈥�
In her upcoming lecture at AV俱乐部, Dr. Blackstock will draw on local examples, including the lobster dispute between Sipekne鈥檏atik Mi鈥檏maq and non-Indigenous lobster fishers in Digby and Yarmouth counties. The RCMP were slow to rise to that occasion and used an uneven hand when reacting to it, she says.
鈥榃e loved you enough to stand up for you鈥�
For the past 15 years, Dr. Blackstock has been working on a successful human rights challenge to Canada鈥檚 inequitable provision of child and family services, and failure to implement Jordan鈥檚 Principle (which aims to eliminate service inequities and delays for First Nations children). A ruling announced in January 2022 requires the federal government to pay $40 billion in child welfare. It will compensate Indigenous children and their families harmed by an underfunded child welfare system and establish long-term reform. Half the money will support young First Nations adults transitioning out of the child welfare system and bolster preventive mechanisms to keep children at home and in their communities.
It鈥檚 been hard-fought litigation and the fight isn鈥檛 over yet. The government has thus far appealed every stage of the ruling. Dr. Blackstock is waiting to celebrate, she says, until Canada drops its latest appeal. 鈥淭he government has a long history of making benevolent statements,鈥� she says, mentioning they鈥檝e announced the compensation package but have not begun paying it out. (That鈥檚 expected to begin in April 2022.)
When asked what propels her, Dr. Blackstock says the answer is easy: children.
鈥淲hat keeps me going is the honour and dignity of standing with children and their families. I ask myself what, at the end of the day, is really important to me? Every one of these kids is more important than my job. I want to be able to say we loved you enough to stand up for you.鈥�
The Shaar Shalom Lecture at AV俱乐部 is made possible through the generosity of the Shaar Shalom Synagogue of Halifax. It seeks to explore themes of tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity and difference in contemporary society, and demonstrates our shared interest in bringing in-depth discussion of these themes to wider civil society.聽 This year鈥檚 lecture happens Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 7 p.m. (AST). Find more information and a link to the registration page here.