First Nations children promoted within art exhibit
Jacquie Clancy
Issue date: 12/1/09 Section: News
November 23 marked the opening of freelance photographer Liam Sharp's exhibit, Caring Across Boundaries, at First Canadian Place in Toronto.
The exhibit features photos of children from First Nation's communities holding signs that depict their dreams for the future.
Cindy Blackstock, the Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the show's curator and it was sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation.
The 40 images included in the show are "aimed at engaging First Nations and all Canadians in reconciliation to promote the health and well being of children and youth", said Blackstock to reporters.
The show's launch comes a week after the adjournment of a Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal hearing into the discrimination against First Nations children in the child welfare system. The hearing was initiated by Blackstock and the AFN in Sept. 2009 and is due to continue in Jan. 2010.
The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada states on their Web site that the tribunal hearing is to address the fact that "the Government of Canada [has] a longstanding pattern of providing less government funding for child welfare services to First Nations children on reserves than is provided to non-Aboriginal children".
First Nations children enter child welfare services at higher rates than non-Aboriginal children.
"We see these children with their dignity and their dreams to grow up to be doctors and veterinarians and helicopter pilots. They aren't interested in growing up to be on welfare," said Blackstock to reporters.
The Caring Across Boundaries art exhibit aims to demonstrate that First Nations children should have an equal opportunity to grow up and make their dreams a reality. Blackstock tells reporters that she hopes the viewers of the exhibit will ask themselves, "Why shouldn't First Nations children have the same chance as other children?"
Supporters of the tribunal hearing have joined the 'I am a witness' campaign, created by The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. Their Web site states that, "By being a witness you are making a commitment to follow the case by either coming to watch the tribunal in person or by following it in your local media".
Both individuals and organizations can join to offer their support the campaign. The Caring Across Boundaries exhibit hopes to promote the campaign and encourage people to join.
The campaign hopes its registered 'witnesses' will be "sending a message that [they] care about all children being treated fairly and equitably by governments", as stated on their Web site.
The striking photos in the exhibit include, among others, a young boy holding a sign that reads "I want to be a doctor!" as well as a wheelchair bound girl with a sign stating "I deserve access to my school!" The photos all depict a sense of hope and equality, which is what the exhibit as a whole is hoping to represent.
"They can grow up to be cooks and veterinarians and nurses and bush pilots," said Blackstock to reporters. "But only if we give them the same chance every other kid gets."
To become a 'witness' and offer your support to the Tribunhearing visit fnwitness.ca
The exhibit features photos of children from First Nation's communities holding signs that depict their dreams for the future.
Cindy Blackstock, the Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the show's curator and it was sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation.
The 40 images included in the show are "aimed at engaging First Nations and all Canadians in reconciliation to promote the health and well being of children and youth", said Blackstock to reporters.
The show's launch comes a week after the adjournment of a Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal hearing into the discrimination against First Nations children in the child welfare system. The hearing was initiated by Blackstock and the AFN in Sept. 2009 and is due to continue in Jan. 2010.
The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada states on their Web site that the tribunal hearing is to address the fact that "the Government of Canada [has] a longstanding pattern of providing less government funding for child welfare services to First Nations children on reserves than is provided to non-Aboriginal children".
First Nations children enter child welfare services at higher rates than non-Aboriginal children.
"We see these children with their dignity and their dreams to grow up to be doctors and veterinarians and helicopter pilots. They aren't interested in growing up to be on welfare," said Blackstock to reporters.
The Caring Across Boundaries art exhibit aims to demonstrate that First Nations children should have an equal opportunity to grow up and make their dreams a reality. Blackstock tells reporters that she hopes the viewers of the exhibit will ask themselves, "Why shouldn't First Nations children have the same chance as other children?"
Supporters of the tribunal hearing have joined the 'I am a witness' campaign, created by The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. Their Web site states that, "By being a witness you are making a commitment to follow the case by either coming to watch the tribunal in person or by following it in your local media".
Both individuals and organizations can join to offer their support the campaign. The Caring Across Boundaries exhibit hopes to promote the campaign and encourage people to join.
The campaign hopes its registered 'witnesses' will be "sending a message that [they] care about all children being treated fairly and equitably by governments", as stated on their Web site.
The striking photos in the exhibit include, among others, a young boy holding a sign that reads "I want to be a doctor!" as well as a wheelchair bound girl with a sign stating "I deserve access to my school!" The photos all depict a sense of hope and equality, which is what the exhibit as a whole is hoping to represent.
"They can grow up to be cooks and veterinarians and nurses and bush pilots," said Blackstock to reporters. "But only if we give them the same chance every other kid gets."
To become a 'witness' and offer your support to the Tribunhearing visit fnwitness.ca
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