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New legislation in BC now gives the right to indigenous communities to be consulted about child protection cases for their children.
The changes were introduced to reduce the number of indigenous children in the provinces chid welfare system.
Indigenous people in BC represent just 10% of the provinces’ population but almost 65% of kids in the child welfare system.
The new rules allow a chids home community to be involved in planning for care – to maintain family relationships within the culture.

Indigenous leaders are calling on Lakehead University to address issues of racism after the resignation of an indigenous dean.
Angelique EagleWoman resigned fro the Bora Laskin law school in March — saying she witnessed systemic racism in her position at the university.
EagleWoman says she reported the racism to school staff and was not given support to deal with the situation.
EagleWoman was the first indigenous dean of a Canadian law school. Now indigenous leaders are pushing Lakehead to deal with their issues of systemic racism and replace her with another indigenous dean.

Indigenous leaders are in Switzerland this week to demand the country’s biggest bank stop funding oil pipeline companies.
Activists have set up tipis in front of the bank to protest — saying there must be justice and accountability for banks investing in projects that contaminate and desecrate indigenous land.
They are joined by a collective of Swiss citizens suing the country’s government for inaction on climate change,
Greenpeace says Swiss Banks invest more money in fossil fuel companies than any other European country in the world.

An indigenous designers’ work has gone viral on Twitter, showcasing her indigenous designed prom dresses.
Della Bighair-Stump created a number of prom dresses for students this season with Crow tribal designs on them.
Stump says that the red dresses in her collection were designed to bring attention to the issue of Missing and Murdered indigenous women and girls in North America.

The Nunatsiavut Government announced they are conducting an An independent review into the treatment of Inuit children and youth in Newfoundland and Labrador’s child welfare system.
The investigation will be led by the province’s child and youth advocate.
The study is being commissioned amidst concerns from the Inuit government in Labrador over the number of Inuit children being placed outside of their communities.
Roughly a third of children and youth being sent to child protection services in the province are Indigenous – far out of proportion to their percentage of the population.
Nunatsiavut president Johannes Lampe has said the separation of families is causing undue stress, along with a loss of culture and way of life.