Again, it's respect, but here's the thing: There's been lots of research, documentation and publications by indigenous child welfare agencies supporting the need for kinship and customary care. What's missing is that family members or kinship and community often have to take on this responsibility with zero income.
You find me an indigenous person.... You talk about disrespect. I'll tell you what's disrespectful to indigenous communities from my perspective, speaking as one indigenous person: It's that we have to consult about stupid stuff like whether we want toilets and how we feel about clean drinking water in our community. You find one first nations community that doesn't want to have control over matters that impact their kids in a way that is consistent with our customs and traditions. You find me one.
This is at the very foundational level of the TRC. One of the worst things was that the state stole our kids and then criminalized us as parents. The state did that, and now the state continues to do that through the child welfare system. The only people who are wards of states are kids in child welfare and people who are incarcerated, and for most kids in care, it is like a lifetime incarceration that leaves lasting identity issues and lasting issues.
We cannot risk children having to be taken away from family and community for issues of poverty, which sometimes results in kids going into care. It's not lack of parenting but issues of poverty. The consultation piece about saying we're not doing indigenous people justice doesn't fly, which is why I put forward this amendment, which is what we're supposed to do in committee. It's that people put forward legislation, even in parties that are not my own, and my job as a legislator is to put forward amendments to strengthen legislation.