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Death of B.C. aboriginal teen Paige blamed on 'brutal and cruel' support services

CBC News
Ugh.
Reading this sort of story just gets me. Deep in the heart, it hurts me.
This girl. Hell. She looks just like any other girl on my reserve. Like any girl I've met in my community.
She was allowed to die. She was passed around, passed off, and then simply passed away. All while in the hands of a ministry that doesn't know what to do with this girl, and the hundreds of kids just like her.
Damn it!
The best way of dealing with these kids is to work with the families, the communities these kids are being taken from. Instead the BC government plucks them out of the parents' care, sometimes for frivolous reasons, and sends then into this machine-like bureaucracy, and sets it on the spin cycle.
Where the kid ends up, and how they end up, is of no concern to the province! Just so long as they can punt these kids further away.
Work with the kids' families! Work with the kids' communities! That's the best way.
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  1. Beijing York15 May 2015 at 09:45

    I listened to the interview with Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and it was heart-breaking to hear that Paige had an aunt and uncle living in Burnaby who wanted to take her in. They both held low-wage jobs and asked for assistance so that they could move from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom to take Paige in full time. They were denied. Some ass bureaucrat probably assumed they were gaming the system because that's exactly how systemic racism works. Poor child, poor family.

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    Replies
    1. Troy Thomas15 May 2015 at 23:39

      My own parents intervened on numerous occasions to save relative's kids from falling into this system. Once you fall into it, it's like a spin cycle wash machine. The kids that go through it are usually worse off than if they'd stayed with their own parents or guardians the province took them from.
      No, there's gotta be a better way than what's happening, now. First Nations need to be brought into this process at every step. The families of the kids need to be involved at every step,
      No decision should be made without accountability.
      I've had family and friends just disappear, only to reappear years later when they're too old for the system, and most often they're as bad off as those who returned from the residential schools.
      Damn it, there's dozens. hundreds of workers volunteering their time to try and make lives better in Vancouver's downtown east-side. They're doing little miracles so the people living there can have a little easier time. These people are doing this sort of work for free! Why can't BC work with these people to improve the lives of the kids in the downtown east-side?
      There's the Friendship Centre down there, too! And the Friendship Centre is in contact with bands, nationwide. Why can't BC work with the Friendship Centre?

      Delete

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