First Nations Family Advocate Office Update
Good Day Fellow Steemians.
On the weekend I wrote a post about the First Nations Family Advocate Office, an organisation created by Manitoba Chiefs to help Indigenous families that are involved in the Child and Family Services system (CFS in Canada, CPS in the US) bring their children home.
SBD from this post and others in this series will be donated from me directly to Cora Morgan, co-founder of the First Nations Family Advocate Office.
Here is a 24 minute video interview with Cora Morgan on aptnnews.ca where she explains a little more about the crisis of government kidnap in Manitoba.
In this eye opening interview, Cora Morgan poignantly explains the apprehension and disastrous outcome for these indigenous children in care. If you have the time please listen to what she has to say.
I have written up a few points of interest.
The First Nations Family Advocate Office (FNFAO) of Manitoba was the first of it's kind in Canada, and since it's opening other provinces such as British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan have followed suit.
The FNFAO receives no government support and is operated by 2 staff. They help approximately 1200 families every month.
Manitoba has the highest rates of newborn apprehension of any Canadian province, with 30-40 newborn babies taken from one Winnipeg hospital per month.
Winnipeg (capital city of Manitoba) alone has about 550 people go missing per month, most are young females from the Child Welfare system that get lost to the sex trade and human trafficking.
In Morgans eight years working in restorative justice, she reported that over 90% of aboriginal people incarcerated in prisons awaiting sentencing were former children in care of CFS/CPS, and 100% had a direct link to the residential school system in their family history.
"Our young people are being institutionalized from birth til death" - Cora Morgan, First Nations Family Advocate
I've been in touch with Cora Morgan from the FNFAO and this was her response to my outreach:
Wow Amy! That is so very kind and generous. We truly appreciate your gesture.
I chose to pursue this role as I hoped that in the days of residential school, mainstream society was not aware of what was happening to the children. Now, while we are faced with the current Child Welfare system, it is critically important for mainstream to understand what is going on. Your efforts are critically important and I am so very glad you felt compelled to do the work that you are doing. Kitchi Miigwetch!
I have been in touch with @sir-cork of the You Are HOPE Coalition of Causes and have been given a discord channel to promote my efforts and brainstorm ideas with others who are trying to make a difference. This is all new to me and I am full of enthusiasm but lacking know how, so if you feel like coming by and sharing your ideas please do! I would love to hear from you. Lets use the power of Steemit to do some good!
Take Care,
@amymya
Join me on Sola!
Join me on Crypto Empire Discord
Join me on You Are HOPE/Family Protection Project Discord
A friend of mine lived in Manitoba and told me all sorts of stories that happened there. A lot of it was bad. Really bad. My question is why is it so bad there compared to the other provinces? Is it not the same government in Ontario as it is in Manitoba?? I mean Ontario doesn't have all the best stories either but what makes it so different? Why do these poor people struggle more than most? :(
I'm not really sure, my guess is it's the governments mis-management of these first nations communities in the past. Definitely something for me to look into.
are using "Child Protection Agencies"
to take children away from loving families
and place them in foster care or group homes
or put up for adoption.
THESE FAMILIES NEED PROTECTING.
Thank-you @amymya for supporting @familyprotection
TO HELP US HELP FAMILIES IN CRISIS
Thank you for inspiring me to start working towards these goals <3
Such a terrible tragedy. I sincerely hope you and those you work with find a way out of the horrors of government+alcohol+ unemployment. And still the general public has no inkling of the magnitude of the problem. Is there a solution?
I don't know if there is a solution, all I know is that if we raise awareness and try our best to do good we are taking steps in the right direction :)
What a good initiative, I congratulate you, nice post Amy :)
Thank you!
Great initiative here @amymya
Thank you @bitdollar
really great article and insight to the project and a great cause. thank you for playing a part and sharing this - anything to support First Nations is a great cause and I fully support it. I'm from the US, and actually part Native, Cherokee nation, although I don't have tribal affiliation. Sadly, for a lot of people with Native heritage (at least in the US) in the midwest, we're mostly descendants of those who hid in the mountains and hills during the Trail of Tears era, and mixed with whites in order to have a way at a safe life with rights (back in the day). So yea, there's a little history and personal background story for ya;p I tend to overshare hehe. Anyway, really great what youre doing! Would be great to encourage them to start a Steemit blog and share some amazing stories of whats going on in their communities!
Thank you for your support @itinerantartist! I am going to share my articles with them in hopes of bringing them to Steemit :)
Thank you for sharing, I'm an "over sharer" too, haha ♡
Incredible! Those stats are really scary and saddening. I think it's a wonderful worthwhile cause you're working for. I don't tend to get much time on discord but I'll deffo join and throw a few ideas in the hat (if I get any useful ones).
cheers
Anj <3
I would really appreciate that Anj! I need to reach out to people with know how. ♡♡
Cool. I'll try and get me some know how asap :D
cheers
Anj xx
Great work Amy, thank you for taking the initiative girl!!! 100% upvote of course, I'll send you some SBD too.
Thank you Lyndsay! I have you to thank for waking me up and showing me that our voices can make a difference ♡♡♡
It's you who has taken action, and done all of the work, I'm so happy that I inspired you to do so. <3 <3 <3
Happy to UpVote for a good cause any day!
Thanks!
how sad is this? And how is this even possible? My idea about Canada was quite different, never imagined something like this can happen in a place like Canada!
Yup, we have lots of deplorable things going on, just like the rest of the world. We like to keep it hush hush though.