Show Notes
For 15 years, Haida auntie-advocate Katharina Stocker served as Executive Director of NIȽTU,O Child and Family Services Society, championing a simple philosophy: prevention, not punishment. The NIȽTU,O Child and Family Services Society provides families with the support they need, so their children are not removed. And it works! Over a five-year period, not a single child from her member nations was taken into provincial care. In this episode, Katharina offers a masterclass in culturally-appropriate, trauma-informed care that truly centers children and families.
Note: Though we refer several times to “Delegated Aboriginal Agencies” in this episode, these agencies no longer go by that name and are now referred to as “Indigenous Child and Family Service Agencies” (ICFSA) to reflect Indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare. See here for a description of how ICFSAs function.
Additional resources:
To learn more about NIȽ TU,O Child and Family Services Society, visit https://niltuo.ca/
To learn more about the Sweet Dreams Safe Sleep Program, see here
Read more about the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling, which found the federal government discriminatory in its funding of child welfare on reserves
For context on the ongoing reforms to the First Nations Child and Family Services Program, specifically the redirection of prevention funding directly to First Nations communities, view the official government information here
To learn more about what Katharina’s refers to as “malicious reports” (also known as “malicious referrals”) see this source and this source (specifically Chapter 3, Section that begins on page 121: “Nothing to Hide: Anonymous Reporting as Colonial Accountability” which discusses both “malicious referrals” weighed against the “duty to report” in community and in child welfare service delivery)
On how to deal with a false/malicious report, see this guide here
More from Calling All Kin
Kirsten Barnes successfully fought to bring a Gitxsan girl back to her family after she had been in care for six years in a non-Indigenous home. Barnes, a former elected Chief of Gitanmaax and the Indigenous Justice Centre Clinical Director at the BC First Nations Justice Council, is unapologetic in her fight for her nation to assume control over child welfare service delivery. For her, Gitxsan child welfare is not just a “program,” but a “way of life.”
Tara Williamson was nearly taken in the ‘sixties scoop,’ but now she navigates the child welfare system as an adoptee, a parent, and legal expert. A member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and the Co-Research Director at the Indigenous Law Research Unit, Tara partners with First Nations to revitalize and articulate their own family laws under Bill C-92. Williamson shares why it’s important to “breathe life” back into Indigenous laws around children and families, and what’s at stake when we talk about keeping children at the center of child welfare decision making.
In 1980, a 25-year-old Wayne Christian led the historic Indian Child Caravan to Vancouver, a thousand-person march that successfully clawed back jurisdictional control over Indigenous children. That march paved the way for the landmark Bill C-92, which recognizes the jurisdiction of Indigenous nations to enact their own child welfare laws, policies, and approaches to child and family service delivery. In this episode, Chief Wayne discusses the Caravan’s enduring legacy, and his lifelong commitment to those he set out to march for: children.
Calling All Kin launches Wednesday, September 30th, 2026, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Listen to our trailer and subscribe today.