Justice For our Stolen Children disappointed in provinces lack of action following meeting

The Justice For our Stolen Children camp says they are disappointed in the province’s lack of action following their meeting at the beginning of the month.

Five cabinet ministers met with protestors on July 2nd in Fort Qu’Appelle.

The camp brought forward a list of items they want the province to take action on including major changes to social services and the justice system.

Today the camp says the province has taken no action and told the camp last week that “status quo” will remain.

“We recognize that they are not doing these things and we want to see the evidence that they claim they have, that they are doing this work, because everything that we see here, all the lawyers we speak to in family court, all the dates that we’ve attended indicate the exact opposite of what the provincial government is saying,” said Robin Pitawanakwat from Justice for our Stolen Children.

READ MORE: Justice for Our Stolen Children camp files legal challenge over arrests

On Monday the camp announced they would be taking legal action against the province over the arrests of six protestors On June 18th.

The July 2 talks were facilitated with help from Chief Edmund Bellegarde of the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council. Bellgarde said he will continue to advocate for greater First Nations inclusion in making public policy decisions.

He pointed to Indigenous people making up 14 per cent of Saskatchewan’s population, but an overwhelming amount of the children in care and incarcerated youth.

“These very issues of public policy have to be addressed. These are the underlying issues. Let’s look at why a child is in foster care. It’s around the family, it’s around social economic issues, it’s around systemic challenges,” Bellegarde said.

“The institutions that are built do not serve all of the interests in a balanced and an equitable way.”

Bellegarde added that he believes any change will take time, and require political will from all parts of society.