Jonathan Sand at the St John's Library, in Winnipeg, on April 14. Sand, 33, and his three younger siblings were removed from his mother’s care when he was four-years-old. He said the report’s findings show that racism is still alive in the system, but he expected to see the higher numbers.Shannon VanRaes/The Globe and Mail
Half of First Nation families in Manitoba have had a file opened with the child welfare system, and more than a quarter of them have had a child removed and placed under the care of the government, according to a new study.
The research from the University of Manitoba and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs published this month analyzed nearly 120,000 parents, including more than 13,000 First Nations parents, between 1998 and 2019.
The study helps to highlight not only the high incidence of intervention by the province’s Child Family Services in Indigenous communities, but also how that can prevent some First Nations families from seeking help, said Kathleen Kenny, a co-author and University of Manitoba researcher.
“The realities for families can feel really risky because the parent knows that the system has an open file, and that can make the threat of reaching out for help and having the possibility of having their child apprehended much more possible, hard and devastating,” she said.
Ms. Kenny pointed to the province’s “birth alert” system, discontinued in 2020, as the main reason for the high rates of child welfare involvement in First Nations families. The program required hospital staff to notify CFS if a newborn was deemed at risk and possibly in need of intervention.
The province reported 8,919 children in care with CFS in 2024, according to the department’s annual report. Of that number, 91 per cent were Indigenous, even though that demographic only constitutes about 18 per cent of Manitoba’s overall population. But the total number of children in care across Manitoba is on a downward trend, with 2024’s total 13 per cent lower compared with 2015 at 10,295.
Several recommendations were laid out in the study, including improved data collection for CFS, and more funding for housing and wellness supports for First Nation families. Despite the number of children in the welfare system decreasing, Ms. Kenny said an open child welfare file can compound the anxiety for a family already struggling to find safe, affordable housing or healthy food.
Manitoba’s children and youth advocate places some blame on the child welfare system for why First Nations families are overrepresented in mental health, addictions and justice systems.
“It’s absurd that First Nation families continue to face this type of situation, especially when children are being at risk of being apprehended,” Sherry Gott said. “Why do we have to have a spotlight on Indigenous parents?”
Despite the birth alert system formally ending, Ms. Gott says child welfare officials still check on First Nations babies born in hospital: “Why can’t we have our children in the hospital like everybody else in society? Why do we have to be scrutinized?”
She said funding is needed for more holistic forms of support for First Nation youth, such as land-based learning and language skills.
Jonathan Sand, 33, and his three younger siblings were removed from his mother’s care when he was four-years-old. He said the report’s findings show that racism is still alive in the system, but he expected to see the higher numbers because he’s seen how many families have experiences with CFS.
“It definitely hurts a lot of the families because it’s almost like they’re saying you’re an unfit parent,” Mr. Sand said.
He remembers feeling scared, and seeing his family crying, uncertain of what was happening when he was removed. Mr. Sand was first placed in a Winnipeg hotel, with unfamiliar social workers watching him and his siblings.
He then cycled between six different foster homes before aging out of the system. His siblings were split up multiple times and sometimes only saw each other once a month.
After spending four years at one foster home, CFS intervened and removed Mr. Sand and his brother because their foster parent sexually abused them. He was in limited contact with his mother and went two years without hearing from her. Mr. Sand says his mother fought to get her kids back, but without success.
Manitoba’s Minister of Families, Nahanni Fontaine, said the joint study confirms what many Indigenous people have experienced: that for First Nations families, there’s always the threat of CFS coming to take away their children. Ms. Fontaine herself was apprehended twice from her mother.
“When I was with my mom, every single day when she would leave, she would say, ‘Remember, don’t answer the phone, don’t answer the door. It could be CFS,‘” Ms. Fontaine she said.
In 2020, the federal government passed Bill-92, which creates an avenue for First Nations to take over responsibility for child welfare. So far, Peguis First Nation is the only Manitoba community to do so.
Ms. Fontaine said the province has begun negotiations with up to 15 other First Nations to transfer jurisdictional child welfare control. The province hopes to eventually move away from placing First Nation children in foster care with strangers, and keep children with their families and in their communities, she said. Ms. Fontaine said that could take between five and 10 years.
In October, the province made changes to kinship care agreements, which keep children out of the child welfare system and allow parents to retain guardianship while a child is placed with another family member.
When parents, caregivers, or children deal with the child welfare system, it’s traumatizing, said Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. She said every community has different needs when transferring jurisdictional control of child welfare.
The AMC hasn’t received any information about the changes the province is making in child welfare, she said.
“We need to just make sure the Minister of Families is sharing some of the vision,” Ms. Wilson said. “And I’m not sure what the vision is right now.”