Show Notes
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.
Music Credits: Little Star is Written and performed by Tara Williamson; produced by Jim Bryson; recorded at Fixed Hinge Studio in Stittsville, Ontario by Jim Bryson; mixed by Jim Bryson at Fixed Hinge Studio; and mastered by Philip Shaw Bova at Bova Lab Studio in Ottawa, Ontario. Available on Bandcamp and other major streaming platforms. Album art is by Michael Dudeck.
Additional Resources:
Landmark Reports, legislation and more:
To learn about the Kimelman Report (“No Quiet Place”), a 1985 landmark child welfare review, read the report via the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society
To be informed about The Indian Act, find the full text via the Department of Justice
Bill C-92 & Indigenous Jurisdiction:
An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (Bill C-92)
To review the Yellowhead Institute Critique on Bill C-92, see this and this.
Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) Reports include Nawendiwin: The Art of Being Related – Anishinaabeg Kinship-Centred Governance and Family Law and in the BC context, The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety Toolkit
Sixties Scoop & Historical Context:
Read Tara’s reflections on the Sixties Scoop in her 2017 article: Just What Was the Sixties Scoop?
Raven Sinclair’s work on the Sixties Scoop (Identity lost and found: Lessons from the sixties scoop)
CBC’s Report on FN Children in the Sixties Scoop: Indigenous children for sale: The money behind the Sixties Scoop
On Indigenous family reunification in the wake of Sixties Scoop removals, see Reunification as Refusal: Kin-Making and Unmaking in the Aftermath of Indigenous Child Removal
“Finding Cleo” (CBC Podcast)
Read up on the MMIW Report: Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Check out the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) Archives for residential school documentation.
Family Policing & Birth Alerts:
To read about family policing read Dorothy Roberts’ Torn Apart, and for legal and family support, reach out to West Coast LEAF
For education regarding the practice of birth alerts and subsequent abolition efforts, read up on this lawsuit and this resource
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.”
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.
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.