Multiple Placements Seldom Represent an Ideal Life Plan for Youths

Despite the fact that the Youth Directorate asked a task force in 1995 to look into different aspects of the problem for children at risk of neglect or neglect, we have had to realize for several years that this did not happen to them. not allowed to claim to develop a plan of life not only permanent but satisfactory for these children.

The perspective of potentially ruining a child’s outcomes claims my commitment

The point I want to make here is that the perspective of potentially ruining a child’s outcomes claimed my commitment when I was working up North in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada.

It was the hardest work I have ever had to do and you have to have done it to say something like: "On Monday mornings, I put myself in button-responsive mode and I will reflect on what I have done when I leave here for good" (my co-worker's words to me when I complained about never being allowed by supervisor to think things through for the best of the people and the children). No Child Should Take the Long Way Home aims to reduce the number of placements children have to face in Nunavik.

The assumption that Indigenous people can move on shines light on our heartlessness

Before anyone judges the Inuit of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, it is important to understand the history behind the issues. We must remember that, as North Americans, our collective ancestry decimated their populations with violence and new diseases.

The turmoil and anguish they had to go through are evident. Yet, they are still not provided the same opportunities we have even though they were "Canadian" even before we were.

The outcome of intercultural placement carries the seeds of alienation from self

Policies and practices reflect longstanding and deeply embedded mother-blaming culture and father invisibility ideologies that shape child protection systems. With regard to children in this year of reconciliation, one has to believe another solution is possible, that whatever solution brought about does not stem from ideology, that big changes are going to happen in this lifetime. Children need to be safe, but they also need to be among their people.

Everything is changing-the future needs re-arranging

Transcultural placements of Inuit children are more complex than what seems to meet the eye. Children are often placed in non-Inuit families for years and sometimes never return home.

Policies and practices reflect longstanding and deeply embedded mother-blaming culture and father invisibility ideologies that shape child protection systems. This misuse of power attests to our colonization past when it comes to this isolated population.

My knowledge keeps me on the path

As you can tell, I will never be Inuit. But when I worked among them, I learned a lot from them.

Unfortunately, in line of my work in protection, I was confronted with a structure that had too much red tape bringing with it many walls for the Inuit women and so much oversight that women did not get the benefits of justice.

Into a new stage of the project: my purpose

What is my purpose, you might ask?
When I went to work up North, I really thought I could make a DIFFERENCE but it became soon apparent that I was hitting upon walls I had not expected. Over and over, I was told I did not have judgment, not enough experience of the North and that I just didn’t understand. I was always left alone with my questions. It wasn't until I read Catherine Richardson's book that I fully understood what I had seen, heard and felt.

So it became apparent that  I could not, just sit there and watch it happen. Thereby, my walk and my purpose evolved as I made plans to go across Canada, not only to inform but also to raise funds for safehouses so that the children can stay safe and remain in their communities.

First Nations and Inuit children are made more vulnerable by the impact of many placements

The welfare of children is a responsibility shared by the entire society, but because of their vulnerability and dependence, some children suffer from poverty, abuse, injustice and inequality of access to protection.