Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The 2015 Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's primary call to action was to reduce the number of Indigenous children in the child welfare system. Today, there are three times more Indigenous children in care than at the height of the residential school period. The ongoing systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families represents a direct state assault on Indigenous health and wellness by disrupting another generation's ties to land, culture, and community: all of which are key social determinants of health for Indigenous peoples. Though many studies show the negative consequences of child removal on Indigenous communities, there is surprisingly little critical research evaluating existing programs and strategies aimed at preventing child removal and preserving Indigenous families, especially in urban environments where over 50% of Indigenous families currently reside. As such, we still lack a clear understanding of how 'prevention', as a set of programs and everyday practices, relates to the capacity for Indigenous families to be well in the city. Over a year and a half of community-based ethnographic research in the city of Victoria BC, I have investigated Indigenous peoples' pathways towards family preservation-what I term 'everyday prevention'-within and outside of preventative service agencies. This research has been augmented by the development and delivery of an arts-based workshop entitled "Honouring Family Resilience" that offers at-risk Indigenous caregivers the opportunity to share stories of family strength rooted in ancestral teachings. My research contributes a much-needed analysis of the relationship between urban Indigenous kinship systems, preventative service delivery, and Indigenous wellness in settler cities.