March for Children Who Died in Saskatchewan Foster Care

Members of the aboriginal community gathered Wednesday June 20, 2012 in a Sakatoon park. A  “sea of T-shirts and signs honouring children who have died in foster care” was seen.

“What’s going on right now is the new residential school, so many native kids in foster care,” said Chris Martell, father of Evander Lee Daniels, who died in the care of a foster parent nearly two years ago.

Providing food, clothing and shelter simply isn’t enough for children in the system, said Chief Wesley Daniels of the Sturgeon Lake First Nation.

“There has to be love. They have to be placed in a home where there’s love,” he said.

The Ministry of Social Services needs to change the way things are done, Daniels said, like allowing grandparents to be more involved in the process.

“In our culture, grandparents have a huge interest in the development of their children.”

In 2011, 75 per cent of children who died in Saskatchewan’s foster care system were aboriginal.”

Remembering children who died in foster care

[News Talk 650 6/20/12 by Ashley Wills]

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