Two small children stand on cedar boughs in a Stó:lō long house in Sts’ailes, a community in the upper Fraser Valley.
“In Sts’ailes law, you are “markers” — living monuments to signal how far the community has come,” says a leader, placing red and grey wool blankets over their shoulders.
The children, aged nine and 10, were both apprehended at three weeks of age by the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
However, rather than being placed in foster homes, a pioneering partnership between Sts’ailes and MCFD called Snowoyelh enabled the children to stay with their parents after they received help to become better caregivers.
“Our children are our most precious resource and keeping them healthy and happy is our
This story was originally published on CBC News. To read the rest of this news worthy story, please visit http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/meet-the-family-defying-indigenous-child-welfare-apprehension-rates-1.4702857?cmp=rss.