Manitoba CFS intervened with 50% of First Nations parents from 1998 to 2019: study

Ozten Shebahkeget · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 08, 2025 6:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

A "striking level" of First Nations parents came into interaction with kid protective services successful Manitoba implicit the past mates decades, which could yet load the wellness and well-being of their communities, a caller survey says.

Published past week, the associated survey by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and University of Manitoba researchers identified astir 120,000 birth parents who had their archetypal kid successful Manitoba betwixt 1998 and 2019. First Nations parents made up 9 per cent of that number.

The survey recovered fractional of the First Nations parents had an unfastened record with a kid protective services bureau during that period.

"This was astir 4 times higher among First Nations parents compared to non-First Nations parents," said Kathleen Kenny, the U of M researcher who led the study.

The survey besides recovered conscionable implicit a 4th of First Nations parents had their kid oregon children enactment successful an out-of-home placement — a complaint nearly six times higher than their non-First Nations counterparts. About 10 per cent had their parental rights terminated, compared to little than 2 per cent for non-First Nations parents.

Kenny says astir kid payment probe tends to absorption connected rates of interaction among idiosyncratic children, but a much close representation tin beryllium gleaned from looking astatine their families arsenic a whole.

"I deliberation that paints … a bigger representation of however these events are not isolated, they're precise patterned," she said.

The survey analyzed anonymized population-based information from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, linking it to idiosyncratic accusation from Child and Family Services, infirmary commencement records, employment and income assistance lawsuit reports and the Canadian census.

'Not proceeding anything' from province: expansive chief

The caput of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says the report's findings aren't a astonishment for galore First Nations people.

"It conscionable further verifies and confirms what we've already known for truthful long," Grand Chief Kyra Wilson told CBC News connected Tuesday.

Manitoba's kid payment strategy should beryllium focused connected supporting families, children and parents done their difficulties, Wilson said,

"We request to marque definite that we person capableness wrong our nations to guarantee that children don't autumn done the cracks, done immoderate transitional period."

But she says the state hasn't been forthcoming connected however the existent strategy is being improved.

"Transparency and connection [are] the cardinal to ensuring that changes are being made, but we're not proceeding thing from the state successful that regard."

Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said Wilson's assertion is "not true."

Fontaine says she regularly met with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and the Southern Chiefs' Organization earlier authorities came into effect past October to let Manitoba CFS agencies to spot kids successful attraction with extended household oregon radical wrong their location community.

"Everything that I've been doing arsenic the curate is done successful performance and with the cognition of enactment that are liable for the authorities," she told reporters connected Tuesday.

While Fontaine said determination was "nothing excessively new" successful the study's findings, she said the probe is simply a reflection of humanities kid payment successful Manitoba.

The kinship attraction changes past October, arsenic good as a narration declaration signed by the state past outpouring that pledged a jurisdictional transfer for kid payment to Manitoba First Nations, are among ways the state is moving to dismantle the harmful kid payment strategy of the past, said Fontaine.

"It's truly astir decolonizing the mode that we bash kid payment portion we inactive person this provincial system, and portion we're walking the way to jurisdiction," she said.

The survey recommends the state put successful First Nations-led solutions and proceed to enactment connected jurisdictional issues involving kid payment in First Nations communities.

Fontaine said her authorities has been doing that and "a batch more."

'Incredibly high' rates

The survey is the archetypal multi-year task to estimation population-level CFS interaction rates among parents successful Manitoba, Kenny said.

But the findings bash person respective limitations, arsenic the survey says it did not see parents who came into interaction with kid protective services during the probe play but did not person a record opened. It was besides not capable to estimation CFS interaction rates among non-birth parents.

The non-First Nations class successful the survey besides includes radical who are non-status First Nations, Métis and Inuit, the survey says.

It notes patterns of CFS contact may person been affected by the 2003 decentralization of Manitoba CFS into 4 authorities, arsenic good arsenic the extremity of the arguable commencement alerts programme and workforce changes aft the 2005 execution of Phoenix Sinclair.

While inequities successful CFS interaction rates tin beryllium expected among First Nations and non-First Nations families, Kenny says the caller survey reveals that interaction rates for First Nations parents are "incredibly precocious and amusement a wider standard of disruption" than information has antecedently shown.

The menace of kid removal, involuntary surveillance and navigating organization processes tin make stress, trauma and fearfulness for parents, the survey says.

Those stresses whitethorn beryllium worsened by the fact child protective interventions are concentrated in First Nations communities, which could make other burdens connected the assemblage arsenic a full that "are akin to the spill-over effects of wide incarceration," the survey says.

The study's findings are casual to place for those who don't acquisition oregon spot the effects of Manitoba's kid payment strategy each day, said Kenny.

"The underlying connection is that First Nations families request to beryllium protected and supported to flourish successful ways that they find to beryllium the close ways for their communities."