Native Women’s Shelter ends partnership with Batshaw, citing inaction on Indigenous youth protection
Posted September 28, 2021 4:49 pm.
Last Updated September 29, 2021 5:23 pm.
MONTREAL (CityNews) ─ A partnership between the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (NWSM) and an advisory committee to improve youth-protection services for Indigenous children has come to an end.
The women’s shelter says it has ended its partnership with the Batshaw Youth Family Centres after failing to receive any concrete commitments for action and change regarding system racism and the conditions for Indigenous families.
Batshaw provides youth-protection services for English-speaking Montrealers.
Nakuset, the executive director of the NWSM, says a number of reports and inquiries were stalled or entirely ignored.
“We had a series of meetings, but unfortunately everything we put forward in terms of concerns, in terms of concrete steps, they were completely ignored,” said Nakuset at a press conference on Tuesday. “And they didn’t even show up in the minutes. It was very strange. So after a couple of meetings, we just decided it was probably best not to attend these meetings because we were just wasting our time.
“It feels we continually show up at the table, give 100 per cent and get dismissed.”
In 2019, the NWSM took part in a report − One step forward, two steps back: Child welfare services for Indigenous clientele living in Montreal − that provided recommendations for youth protection and outlined examples of systemic racism faced by Indigenous families.
“Inuit children and their families are told not to speak their first language of Inuktitut when on supervised visits,” said Mel Lefebvre, vice-president of the board at the NWSM. “And in 2013, we saw there no statistics indicating actual number of Indigenous children in care. And now we find ourselves in 2021 and this is still an ongoing issue.”
RELATED: Montreal’s youth protection seeing growing waiting list
The shelter is urging the Quebec government to intervene and have youth-protection services implement the recommendations made in reports and public inquiries like the Viens and Laurent Commissions.
“How many reports do you need to have on your desk saying, ‘please follow these recommendations’ and they’re just ignored,” said Nakuset. “If the government isn’t going to hold them accountable, they’re going to get away with it.
“Every time you bring an issue forward, it gets pushed back. How many years does it have to get pushed back? Because on a daily basis we’re working with families that are coming in in crisis.”
In a statement to CityNews, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, which oversees Batshaw, said the end of the partnership was “regrettable.”
“We reiterate our desire to collaborate with all parties that want to achieve a similar goal: providing services that meet all the needs of Indigenous people in a safe environment,” reads the statement.
“We are actively working towards implementing the recommendations of the Viens and Laurent Commissions within our organization and across the province. An action plan is currently being developed to deploy those recommendations in our CIUSSS.”
RELATED: Quebec government reacts to Laurent Commission report (May 4, 2021)
Meanwhile the Native Women’s Shelter is looking at the possibility of making a civil-rights complaint to improve youth-protection services for Indigenous children. They have enlisted the help of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR).
“It’s laborious, it’s costly, but we find that sometimes legal action is possibly one of the only ways to bring about durable and concrete changes in the system,” said Fo Niemi of CRARR, who attended Tuesday’s press conference alongside Nakuset.
Nakuset says while the NWSM withdrew its partnership with Batshaw, they are “100 per cent committed to the Indigenous children.”
“We currently at the NWSM have four staff dedicated to caseloads. In the last year, we’ve had already 50 families we have supported. We have a waiting list. So we are the ones literally doing the work and what we need is for the institution to make some changes because it’s like running into a wall.”
