BOCH National Conference Report

The report contains the discussions from the Assembly Manitoba Chiefs First Nations Family Advocate Office, Bringing Our Children Home National Conference held on November 25th-27th, 2019 at the RBC Convention Centre.

The Bringing Our Children Home National Conference brought together First Nations from across Canada to have key discussions on reasserting jurisdiction in the area of families and children. Participants also engaged in open forum discussions to draw attention to best practices and prevention initiatives in First Nations to preserve the family unit and prevent children from entering the Child and Family Services system. First Nations citizens, elected leaders and First Nations specialized in child welfare nationwide were in attendance. Messages of unity, jurisdiction, sovereignty, and protecting inherent and treaty rights were heard throughout the conference. This was coordinated through the use of a variety of keynote speakers and breakout session presenters.

With the disproportionate number of First Nations children in the provincial CFS system in Manitoba, combined with the uncertainty of the pan-Indigenous federal legislation, An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, further discussion was needed to explore how we are to move forward from a First Nations perspective.

The Bringing Our Children Home National Conference commenced with opening remarks from First Nations leadership and elders who collectively spoke to the importance of restoring our traditional structures through law-making. Grand Chief Arlen Dumas acknowledged the importance of nationhood, caring and doing better for our children and families, and how important it is to draw from our Elders and grandmothers who carry the knowledge of child rearing. He further recognized that we have families within our nations that practice the traditional ways of raising children; we have active leaders who are making a difference each and every single day. This was further enforced by the speech provided by the AMC Women’s Council, speaking on how we all need to work together work away from a provincially controlled delegated CFS system, towards a First Nations system based on our own laws and traditions, which focuses on advancing our families, children’s, and Nations.