The Chilliwack
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Your community newspaper • Founded in 1891 • www.theprogress.com • Tuesday, December 28, 2010
What made the news in 2010
Chilliwack had plenty to cheer about in 2010, from the arrival of the Olympic flame in February, to the opening of a new cultural centre, to the arrival of record sockeye returns. In this edition of the Chilliwack Progress, we take a look back at just some of the stories that were making headlines in the community. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS FILE
New aboriginal child welfare agency draws mixed reaction Robert Freeman The Progress An agreement has been signed that gives aboriginal people in the Fraser Valley more control over child protection services formerly delivered by the provincial child and family ministry. But there are conflicting views about how well Sto:lo communities will take to the new Fraser Valley Aboriginal Children and Family Services Society created by the agreement. “A few in our community sup-
port it, and a few of us don’t,” Grand Chief Clarence Pennier, president of the Sto:lo Tribal Council, said Wednesday. But Sto:lo Nation chief Joe Hall said cultural traditions are a “key part” of the programs that will be delivered by the new board, which in his view has done an “excellent job” of creating a non-political agency. “Politics did not play a role in the creation of this agency,” he said. Child protection services as delivered by the Xyolhmeylh agency was at the centre of an internal dispute in 2004 that led to the
political break-up of the Sto:lo First Nation into the Sto:lo Nation and the Sto:lo Tribal Council. An independent board has been working with the ministry since 2007 to create a “new governance structure” for the delivery of child welfare services in the Fraser Valley, leading up to the agreement signed Dec. 17. Few details of the new society or the agreement have been released by the BC children’s’ ministry pending an official ceremony expected in mid-January. But Tyrone McNeil, STC vicepresident, said “nothing has
changed” despite the agreement, and he wouldn’t be surprised if all eight bands in the tribal council “withdrew their support in the end.” He said the agreement has not been seen by any bands outside those sitting on the new board. “The fact that it was hidden from us is not a good sign,” he said. McNeil described the new board’s work as a “missed opportunity” to build a “rock-solid program” that communicated with band chiefs and that could be held accountable, “but for some reason they didn’t want to do any of that.”
He also said aboriginal children are still being placed in nonaboriginal foster homes. “The new board continues to do that,” he said. Pennier agreed, saying the new agency is “acting like the ministr y” and apprehending aboriginal children rather than following cultural traditions that keep families together. “They’re doing more of that (apprehensions) than keeping families together,” he said. Continued: CARE/ p17
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