And now:"S.I.S.I.S." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
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"GENOCIDE IS DEFINED AS....TRANSFERRING CHILDREN OF THE GROUP TO ANOTHER
GROUP." GENOCIDE CONVENTION 1948
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[S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news articles may contain
biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts
and/or context. They are provided for reference only.]
MANITOBA METIS TAKE FOSTER-CARE PROTEST TO UN
The Globe and Mail, April 5, 1999 by Erin Anderssen
Ottawa -- A M�tis organization plans to lodge a human-rights complaint with
the United Nations against Manitoba, arguing that the province's foster-care
system tramples the cultural rights of Mtis children.
In a draft of its submission to the UN, the Manitoba M�tis Federation
compares the current system to native residential schools of the past. It
criticizes the province as being too quick to uproot children from M�tis
families and place them in non-aboriginal homes far from their communities.
The federation plans to present its complaint to the UN Working Group on
Indigenous Populations in July. It hopes international attention will put
pressure on the province to allow M�tis communities to set up their own
child- welfare system, similar to the arrangements now possible for Indian
bands.
"We're just Manitobans in the eyes of the child-welfare system," said David
Chartrand, president of the federation. "There are no cultural
considerations at all."
Mr. Chartrand believes that Family Services staff are entering M�tis homes
with unreasonable expectations based on the living standards of non-native
Canadians. The poor economic conditions and crowded homes common in the
M�tis community, he said, are a key reason so many children are being taken
from their families.
"They come in with all these mentalities of how we should live according to
their policies," he said.
He quotes government statistics that suggest nearly three out of four
children in the care of Family Services in Winnipeg last September were
aboriginal. Within that group, Mr. Chartrand says, as many as half might be
M�tis children, but few would be placed in M�tis homes.
"What's happening is wrong. These policies are really doing damage to our
communities. And they set up a system where we can't even fight back," he
said, referring to the cost of fighting custody disputes in the courts.
A spokeswoman for Manitoba's Family Services Minister Bonnie Mitchelson said
the M�tis federation had not approached the department with its concerns.
The spokeswoman said the department tries, where possible, to consider the
culture of children taken into custody, although there is a severe shortage
of aboriginal foster homes.
Even so, the current system has no provision for informing M�tis groups when
M�tis children are removed from troubled homes. Mr. Chartrand said a
M�tis-controlled system would emphasize the cultural value of keeping
children close to their communities and expand the custody role of extended
family members, such as grandparents.
The M�tis complaint will likely feed the debate over cross-cultural
adoptions, which was revived last month when the Supreme Court of Canada
decided to place a four-year-old native boy with his non-native adoptive
grandparents, even though members of his biological family were seeking
custody.
The issue dates back to what is now called the "Sixties Scoop," when
overzealous social workers routinely took native children off Indian
reserves and out of M�tis families and placed them for adoption with mainly
white, middle-class families.
Many of those children were even sent to the United States. According to the
Manitoba M�tis Federation -- which is trying to track some of the cases and
reunite biological families -- one study shows that almost 300 aboriginal
children were adopted into Pennsylvania alone.
Many provinces have changed their adoption systems so that it is more
difficult for non-native couples to adopt aboriginal children. Evidence
indicates children may suffer an identity crisis when removed from their
culture, and may stumble into crime and alcohol and drug addictions. Before
they're adopted, most children still drift through foster homes, and few of
those homes are aboriginal.
No matter what its decision, the UN working group can force little concrete
change, beyond shaming Canada publicly. Still, Mr. Chartrand hopes a hearing
before the UN could lead to new legislation granting the M�tis in Manitoba
many of the same controls over their children currently available to Indian
bands in the province.
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COUPLE WINS RIGHT TO ADOPT NATIVE GIRL
Victoria Times-Colonist, April 7, 1999 by Roger Stonebanks
A white couple from Burnaby walked happily from Victoria Law Courts on
Tuesday after winning court approval for adoption of their eight-year-old
foster daughter, a Cree Indian.
"We'd do it all over again," Tim Murphy said in an interview outside
court. He and wife Dana have been battling to adopt the child over
objections of the natural father, aunt and uncle from Saskatchewan.
A last-minute attempt by the relatives to adjourn the adoption proceeding,
held beyond closed doors in B.C. Supreme Court, was unsuccessful. The
relatives were not in court.
Tim Murphy said it is unfair to suggest that he and his wife are
assimilating a native child.
He said the child has been exposed to native culture and language, and has
visited relatives in Saskatchewan. Dana Murphy is learning Cree herself.
The girl is known in the media as "Susan" although that is not her real
name. Born in Vancouver to a mother who has not played any part in court
proceedings, Susan has been with the Murphy family for the last five years.
The Murphys have three other children, two of theirs and one adopted.
Tim Murphy said Susan is well and loves to hike.
"She's as much into Cree culture as Spice Girls culture," he said.
The adoption application was heard in Victoria because the office of the
director of adoptions is here.
Trudi Brown, counsel for the director of adoptions, said Susan's blood
relatives can apply to court for access to her and can appeal Tuesday's
decision.
The Murphys had tried for the past four years to adopt the girl, who suffers
from fetal alcohol syndrome, but their efforts were stymied by a provincial
moratorium against non-native families adopting native children.
In keeping with the spirit of the moratorium, the Ministry for Children and
Families sought a native home for Susan. An uncle in Saskatchewan came
forward last year and offered to raise her as a foster child. The ministry
decided it would send Susan to the uncle, but the Murphys fought back and
appealed to the child and family review board, which sided with them.
Tim Murphy said his and Dana's lives have been "turned upside down" by the
struggle to adopt Susan.
"No one needs this stress. It's a miracle we've managed to hang together,"
he said.
Susan wants to be adopted and the child's needs should come first, he said.
As far as access by the girl's blood relatives is concerned, "our home is
open."
Vancouver lawyer Marnie Dunnaway, who represented the Murphys, said: "I
hope we can sit down and talk about access. There is no reason or need for
further litigation."
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SOVEREIGNTY IS THE ANSWER - CANADA IS THE PROBLEM
For more information on Canada's genocide via residential schools, see
http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/resschool/main.html
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S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2
EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html
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