Home / Member News / Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s Landmark Ruling Regarding Our Children
We, the Splatsin people, knew inequities in our child welfare supports existed 40 years ago. Some of you were by my side in 1980 when our Indian Child Caravan led 1000 people across the province as direct action against our children being removed from their homes.
You were also there when we passed our bylaw to protect our children and keep them in our community to continue to strengthen our families, culture, and economic opportunities.
Canada and British Columbia must now work together to right generational wrongs. This will mean ensuring the resources available to provincial child welfare authorities are made available to our communities, so we can manage our programs and services, and exercise our right to jurisdiction over our children.
Today, it’s important for you to remember what we, as a community may have forgotten over the past 35 years.
We’ve never ceded, sold nor surrendered our Secwepemc laws about the care and protection of children. This right is protected by section 35 of the Constitution, which is the supreme law in Canada.
In our case, for BC to apply its legislation and control the support services resources for our children has been an infringement of Splatsin’s section 35 governance rights for which there is no legal justification.
As a survivor of the sixties scoop, father of seven and grandfather of 18, this is my life’s work, and I look forward to continuing to walk this walk with you.
Wunuxtsin
Kukpi7 Christian – Splatsin
Tribal Chief Secwepemc Nation Tribal Council
“We are the ones who we have been waiting for”