‘I promised I would never leave her side’: Saskatchewan parent fights for child to be returned from social services

Indigenous parents dealing with the child welfare system say the system is not helping them keep their families together.

Approximately 70 per cent of the children in Saskatchewan’s child welfare system are Indigenous.

More >> ‘I promised I would never leave her side’: Saskatchewan parent fights for child to be returned from social services

Saskatchewan '60s Scoop survivors hope government apology brings change

Survivors of the ’60s Scoop in Saskatchewan are hoping an apology from the provincial government comes with action to reduce the number of children in care.

Premier Scott Moe is to apologize on Monday morning at the legislature.

More >> Saskatchewan '60s Scoop survivors hope government apology brings change

• Sask. Sixties Scoop Apology: Premier Moe's speech
• Premier Scott Moe issues government’s apology for Sixties Scoop
• 'The sadness that never goes away': Sixties Scoop survivor battles to be recognized as Indigenous

Saskatchewan minister hopes government gives '60s Scoop apology by year’s end

Saskatchewan’s social services minister says the province hopes to apologize to ’60s Scoop survivors by year’s end.

Paul Merriman says he’s working with survivors to make sure that timeline works for them.

More >> Saskatchewan minister hopes government gives '60s Scoop apology by year’s end

• Sixties Scoop apology will hopefully come by year's end, says Sask. social services minister

Sixties Scoop sharing circles looking to shape healing journeys and government apology

Saturday marks the first step in the Saskatchewan government's effort to observe past wrongs and consider a "meaningful" apology to Sixties Scoop survivors.

The Sixties Scoop saw tens of thousands of Indigenous children taken from their families and adopted out across the country and the world, mostly to white families, between the 1960s and the 1980s.

"I was brought up in a non-native family and I lost my culture and tradition, not knowing who I was," said Melissa Parkyn, one of the facilitators for sharing circles being organized by the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan (SSISS). "So, I pretty much lost my identity."

More >> Sixties Scoop sharing circles looking to shape healing journeys and government apology

Protest campers contemplate next steps as some teepees come down

Stacked-up chairs and disassembled teepee poles lay scattered around the Justice for Our Stolen Children camp Monday, as a disheartening mood settled over many supporters.

Some pitched in to help roll up tarps used to shelter common areas. There was no immediate word on how the protesters will react to a recent court decision ordering them to vacate the patch of land in Wascana Centre they first occupied 195 days ago. But hope seemed to be fading for some.


More >> Protest campers contemplate next steps as some teepees come down

Family reunited after Regina couple wins long battle to get kids back from care

Sabrina and Carmon Crane hit rock bottom when their five kids were apprehended by social services three years ago because of addiction issues and domestic violence.

One year after they went into the system, three of the kids became permanent wards and put on the adoption list. The other two were listed as long-term wards.

More >> Family reunited after Regina couple wins long battle to get kids back from care

Checking on child welfare does not permit warrantless police searches, Appeal Court rules

A Saskatchewan appeal decision upholding exclusion of evidence “affirmed old bedrock principles” that police cannot use child protection as “carte blanche to invade people’s privacy,” said the lawyer of a mother acquitted of drug and gun charges.

The April 5 Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan decision in R. v. McMahon 2018 SKCA 26 can be traced back to November 2013, when Cpl. Reilly Knock with the RCMP’s Big River detachment received a tip that the children of one Marcia McMahon were enduring poor living conditions and lacked proper care.

More >> Checking on child welfare does not permit warrantless police searches, Appeal Court rules

Metis ’60s Scoop victim files claim against federal, provincial governments

Sixties Scoop victim Robert Doucette is taking the federal and provincial governments to court.

The Metis man, who filed a human rights complaint two months ago against federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett for the exclusion of Metis people from the government’s $800-million ’60s Scoop class-action settlement, filed a statement of claim against the Saskatchewan and Canadian governments Monday.

More >> Metis ’60s Scoop victim files claim against federal, provincial governments

Foster parents concerned after Walmart stops accepting government vouchers

Some foster parents in Saskatchewan are raising concerns they won’t have access to the items they need for their foster children on short notice, now that Walmart Canada is no longer accepting government requisition forms.

Foster families receive requisition forms (vouchers) from Social Services to purchase emergency supplies such as car seats, baby formula, clothing or other products for their foster children.

More >> Foster parents concerned after Walmart stops accepting government vouchers

Metis '60s Scoop survivor files human rights complaint

The Government of Canada discriminated against Metis survivors of the ’60s Scoop when it left them out of an $800 million settlement agreement, a Saskatchewan man argues in a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

More >> Metis '60s Scoop survivor files human rights complaint

• Sask. man files human rights complaint over Métis exclusion from Sixties Scoop settlement

Father of child who died in Sask. foster home calls for system overhaul

Chris Martell's 22-month-old son, Evander Daniels, drowned in a bathtub while he was in provincial foster care seven years ago.

More >> Father of child who died in Sask. foster home calls for system overhaul

Indigenous families fight to get children in care back to their families

Last April, her baby Mary Jane was apprehended by social services at the hospital soon after her birth.

More >> Indigenous families fight to get children in care back to their families

Foster children in hotel rooms sometimes 'unavoidable,' minister says

Hotel rooms are sometimes the only alternative available for placing children who need to be immediately out of their homes and into the government's care, Saskatchewan's minister of social services said Thursday in response to questions about the practice.

More >> Foster children in hotel rooms sometimes 'unavoidable,' minister says

Saskatoon Tribal Council says seizing child files like invasion of sovereign country

Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas claims a provincial move to seize confidential child files is akin to invading a sovereign country.

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Sask.'s child watchdog raises concerns over death of deaf child in youth custody facility

Despite repeated concerns about his rapidly declining health, Dylan Lachance, a deaf, non-verbal teen from the north, suffered a slow, painful death after falling ill in a youth custody facility, says a special report by the Saskatchewan child’s watchdog.

More >> Sask.'s child watchdog raises concerns over death of deaf child in youth custody facility

Province demands child welfare files from Saskatoon Tribal Council

The Saskatoon Tribal Council has no plans to give the province files on the roughly 70 on-reserve children who receive its welfare services.

More >> Province demands child welfare files from Saskatoon Tribal Council

• Sask. government taking over child welfare programs from Saskatoon Tribal Council

Failure to investigate child abuse led to deaths, advocate says

Saskatchewan's children's advocate says the deaths of two children can be linked to a failure by officials to adequately report and investigate suspected child abuse.

More >> Failure to investigate child abuse led to deaths, advocate says

Sask. father struggling with PTSD after son's death in foster care

Chris Martell said he needs immediate help.

Ever since his son's death in 2010, Martell says he has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Now homeless, Martell said he needs immediate counselling.

More >> Sask. father struggling with PTSD after son's death in foster care

85 per cent of Saskatchewan children in foster care are indigenous: Stats Can

Recent numbers from Statistics Canada show nearly 48 per cent of foster children across the country are aboriginal and the number in Saskatchewan is even more striking.

More >> 85 per cent of Saskatchewan children in foster care are indigenous: Stats Can

Saskatchewan must do more to protect kids: Pringle

Saskatchewan’s Advocate for Children and Youth Bob Pringle figures he was hired in 2011 to “call it as I see it.”

More >> Saskatchewan must do more to protect kids: Pringle