Concern over their children has the Splatsin heading to court.
The First Nation served the provincial government with a notice of claim Tuesday over the jurisdiction of children in care.
“For our children, we have to step up,” said Chief Wayne Christian.
In 1980, the band introduced a child welfare bylaw, but Christian insists that in recent years, the provincial government has ignored the joint planning process.
“We had an agreement. They recognized our jurisdiction and transferred children over to us. What’s changed?” he said.
“It flies in the face of what Christy Clark says about children.”
There are currently about 30 children under Splatsin jurisdiction and another five that are impacted by the ongoing disagreement with the province.
Christian is confident the band will be successful in the court action and its jurisdiction will be recognized.
“The issue is recognition of what we’re doing because what we’re doing is working,” he said.
“Enough is enough. We want our children back. We will not allow our children to suffer through the current failures of the B.C. child welfare system in this country. We’ve got the system that works. Why is B.C. not accepting this?”
As part of filing the notice of claim, Splatsin members and supporters held a rally at Clark’s constituency office in West Kelowna Tuesday.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development says it can’t speak about the matter before the court.
“However, what we can say is that in B.C., the Child, Family and Community Service Act sets out the requirements for child protection,” it states.
“The ministry acknowledges that the Splatsin have a child welfare bylaw in place, and we are committed to working collaboratively with the Splatsin on any matter. We have developed an operational agreement regarding child protection for Splatsin children in B.C. that has been in place since March 2015.”
