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The Barren Grounds opens by introducing Morgan, an eighth-grader who has been in foster care since she was a young girl, alongside seventh-grader Eli who is in foster care for the first time.
Katie and James, the foster parents of Morgan and Eli, are doing their best to care for the two. Nonetheless, Morgan makes an important comment that speaks to the experience that many Indigenous children have in foster care.
“But this isn’t my home,” Morgan said. “The last seven places weren’t my home either.”
An idea underpinning this comment is that Indigenous children are in many cases not “at home” when they are in foster care. Indigenous foster children are often removed from their families, their communities, and their culture. The history of colonialism and its related factors such as poverty, poor housing, multi-generational trauma, addiction, and domestic violence has resulted in high numbers of Indigenous children in foster care.
To help rectify these issues, in 2020 the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families became law. It acknowledges the circumstances faced by Indigenous Peoples and the legacy of past policies including residential schools. The law emphasizes a child’s physical, emotional and psychological safety, security and well-being and the importance of culture, connection to language and territory, and relationship between a child and the Indigenous group, community or people to which they belong.
This law recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to govern child welfare as part of their inherent right to self-government
Importantly, this law recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to govern child welfare as part of their inherent right to self-government.
Since this law was passed, Indigenous Governing Bodies have been, one-by-one, taking steps to control their own child welfare. In Saskatchewan, over a dozen Indigenous Governing Bodies are at different stages of returning child welfare and family services to their own jurisdiction.
In The Barren Grounds, Morgan and Eli experience something similar to what we are seeing with the revamping of child welfare laws. When the two children cross through the portal into Askí, they come under the stewardship of a Cree-speaking fisher named Ochek. Ochek’s culturally-appropriate care helps connect the children with their culture, the land, and their language. It is no exaggeration to say that the two—and particularly Morgan—return from Askí with improved well-being, having been given culturally-appropriate care.
Hence, The Barren Grounds helps show us the importance of recognizing historical harms and the need for culturally-appropriate care. Laws that return jurisdiction of child welfare to Indigenous Peoples are important steps forward in Reconciliation. These changes will hopefully result in improved well-being for everyone, particularly but not exclusively those directly involved in the child welfare system.
What ways would culturally-appropriate foster care in one’s own community help heal and build both individuals and society?
