Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Time: 7pm - 9pm

The Canadian Government is currently before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on charges that it is racially discriminating against First Nations children and their families by providing less child welfare funding, and thus benefits, than other children receive. This inequality contributes to there being three times more First Nations children in foster care today than there were in residential schools.

This case is one of the most formally watched legal actions in Canadian history with over 4000 people and organizations committed to watching the tribunal (www.fnwitness.ca) and has the potential to set a precedent of equity across all services on reserves. 

Cindy Blackstock, M.M., PhD
Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada

A member of the Gitksan Nation, she has worked in the field of child and family services for over 20 years. Key interests include exploring the over representation of Aboriginal children in child welfare care, structural drivers of child maltreatment in First Nations communities, human rights and the role of the voluntary sector in expanding the range of culturally and community based responses to child maltreatment.

Current professional interests include serving as an Atkinson Economic Justice Fellow, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Social Innovation Generation Fellow, co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare and a board member of the National Aboriginal Youth Organization.