Jukasa News Update, Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Canadas Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott says she agrees with the transfer of Tori Stafford’s killer from a medium security prison to an indigenous healing lodge.
On Wednesday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and Tori Stafford’s father expressed outrage over a Correctional Service Canada decision to move Terri-Lynne McClintic to a facility focused on healing for incarcerated Aboriginal women.
McClintic was sentenced to life in prison for her part in the first degree murder of the eight year old girl. McClintic kidnapped Stafford and then brought her to her boyfriend Micheal Rafferty who repeatedly raped and then killed the child.
Conservatives and the child’s family pressed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reverse the decision, saying McClintic was guilty of “horrific crimes.”
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale had asked for a review of the case.
A Manitoba First Nations children’s advocate says the child welfare system “eats up” Indigenous children and is designed to keep their families at a disadvantage.
Cora Morgan, with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, told the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women that the system is set up to apprehend children, not to support families.
The inquiry is holding hearings in Winnipeg this week and is expected to focus on child welfare.
Morgan said violence against Indigenous women and girls can be linked to child welfare because it not only removes them from their families, but also takes away their identity and self-worth.
The government of Saskatchewan plans to hold sharing circles across the province through October and November to help inform an apology to victims of the so-called ’60s Scoop.
Officials say the sharing circles will be used to encourage respectful conversations about what happened.
Indigenous children lost their cultural heritage after being taken from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous families during the time of the ’60s Scoop.
The Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan, a non-profit group of First Nations, Metis and non-status individuals, will help lead the sharing circles.
A report says the eviction of a Metis settlement in Fort McMurray four decades ago disrupted the community’s way of life and had lasting effect on people’s lives.
The report examines the removal of the Metis from Moccassin Flats in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
It says at the time, the town and the housing subsidiary of oilsands giant Syncrude collaborated to evict the Moccasin Flats families to make way for an apartment tower, which stands today, and a marina, which was never built.
Longley and Joly interviewed affected families who said they considered the area home and their community was fragmented after the evictions.
The report recommends compensation, a land transfer, a monument and cultural centre, as well as a formal apology.
- Previous Jukasa News update Monday, October 1, 2018
- Next Jukasa News Update Wednesday, October 3, 2018
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