Cowichan Tribes made history today with an agreement to provide new opportunities and allow their community to thrive.
Establishing this law has been in the works between all levels of government since 1993, and since then, according to Indigenous Services Canada, Cowichan Tribes has delivered services to its members through the provincially legislated Indigenous child and family services agency.
The agreement will provide care and support for the community now that jurisdiction has been recognized and restored back to the Nation in a bill signed between the Cowichan Tribes and both the federal and provincial government.
According to Indigenous Services Canada, the new law is grounded in the teachings, values, family customs, and traditions to ensure love, respect, and keeping children with their families are prioritized in decision making including judicial proceedings.
Chief Cindy Daniels says signing this law today with federal and provincial partners is a step in the right direction to ensure no one gets left behind again.
“I am heartened to sign this historic coordination agreement on behalf of the Quw’utsun Mustimuhw,” she says. “Cowichan children will grow up better supported, immersed with their culture and connected to their land.
“This is a significant step in providing everyone with a fair chance to succeed.”
Daniels says this has been a long time in the making and for it to finally happen has brought a lot of feelings to the surface.
“Today is historical, we’ve worked on this for so many years,” she says. “It has gone through so many chiefs, council, and staff to get us where we need to be today.
“It means a lot to our people to keep our family units together.”
Daniels adds up until today Indigenous people need to conform, and were told what to do, now that is finally over.
They never had a choice and were forced to attend residential schools, “where the government decided to remove children from their home,” she says. “We lost our culture, language, some kids were removed at age four and they didn’t come home until grade 12.”
Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu says she sympathizes with what has happened in the past, and says this bill is another step in reconciliation.
“The people of Cowichan Tribes are now taking back control of their child and family service, something that shouldn’t have been taken away in the first place,” Hajdu says. “With this agreement, Cowichan children will grow up better supported, immersed in their culture and connected to the land.
“This is a significant step in providing everyone with a fair chance to succeed.”
The government of Canada says they’re providing $1.8 billion over 11 years in Budget 2024 to support communities in exercising jurisdiction under the act, including the first Inuit agreement to support community-led, prevention-based solutions to reduce the number of children in care.
According to the BC government, the BC Indigenous Self-Government in Child and Family Services Amendment Act passed into law on Nov. 25, 2022, making British Columbia the first province in Canada to recognize the inherent right of self-government of Indigenous communities including jurisdiction over child and family services.
This is the second coordination agreement signed by the province following the Splatsin Stsmalt agreement on March 24, 2023.
