Community Perspectives on Northern Remoteness and Child Welfare

Abstract

The objective of the community consultations was to ensure that the voices of the communities were heard in planning how to use any increase in funding associated with remoteness. Every community requires a detailed accounting of services that are being provided and services that will be needed to ensure that children have the opportunity to reach their full potential within their own communities. The community factors affecting the well-being of children and the need for services to address these concerns must be clearly articulated and reflected in any report intended to address the inequities in the current service delivery model. The experts on what is needed are the communities themselves. The task facing researchers and decision-makers is to clearly understand those needs and the costs of both providing and supporting the implementation of necessary services. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

To conduct this engagement we covered visits to 19 remote First Nations belonging to the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) where members provided their perspectives and insights on how living in geographically remote communities impacted the availability of child welfare services. The engagement uncovered a set of complex relationships and expectations that exist among the three Indigenous child and family service agencies serving NAN communities, regarding how funding should appropriately compensate for remoteness to improve the lives of children and families. These themes encompassed the lived experience of community members and the importance of the distinct community character and local culture. The findings demonstrated the importance of continued resource support for increased child welfare services in the NAN communities compared to equivalent non-remote communities.

Keywords:

• Remoteness Quotient Research Project (“RQ project”),
• Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN),
• Child and Family Services (CFS),
• “two-eyed seeing” approach,
• intergenerational trauma,
• remoteness,
• Indigenous communities