I think that's a very important issue both in British Columbia and across Canada. I also serve as the president of the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates, so I'm well acquainted with the situation for advocates across Canada pertaining to aboriginal children in the child welfare system. There is a gross overrepresentation of aboriginal children—in particular, girls as well.
The reasons for their involvement in the child welfare system tend to be very much rooted in the socio-economic disadvantage that aboriginal families experience. That has been persistent: the deep poverty, lack of opportunity, and the absence of a detailed coordinated federal strategy to support girls and women and promote their resilience. Of course, recently there was a national panel commissioned by the federal government on Indian education on reserve—K to 12—which found there were staggering inequalities and gross underfunding. That results in very poor outcomes.
I mean, childhood is short—it's not 188 weeks. If you don't invest and you don't adequately build systems and support people, they don't succeed. For aboriginal children and youth in Canada, we see this as almost a national tragedy. I'm not saying there aren't places where there are efforts under way, but there's a gross inequality in the personal and institutional supports allowing women and girls to succeed equally with their peers. It requires deliberate, focused, federal intervention to remediate that.