Monday, June 25, 2007
Pembroke Daily Observer
Editorial - While the Assembly of First Nations and the federal government battle with verbal shots over a variety of issues, a Senate Committee has slammed Ottawa for the way Aboriginal children are treated here and for not following an international treaty on children's rights.
The report came down hard on the Harper regime, saying it is past time for something to be done about Aboriginal children locked in poverty with poor access to education, forced to live on sub-standard social assistance, face high suicide and school drop out rates.
Huge numbers of native children are in the care of the state - half of the 22,000 children waiting to be adopted are Aboriginal - and all of these youngsters have been abandoned by their national government.
Testimony during committee hearings revealed that while Canada ranked fifth in a UN survey on a human development index, we plummeted to 78th when it came to the care of native children.
The Senate report came after three years of study and hearings that focused on Canada's non-compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which we signed 15-years ago.
The Senators urged the government to appoint a children's commissionaire to oversee the implementation of a made-in-Canada children's rights treaty.
It went on to recommend that a council of children and youth be formed to offer advice.
The Senate report deserves immediate action. It is time we disposed of this "Third World" mentality.