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On Monday, March 6, 2017, students from Glebe Collegiate organized a demonstration on the steps of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The students called on the Prime Minister and other elected officials to treat Indigenous peoples with dignity and respect and to immediately cease discriminatory practices. The students named this event Youth and Reconciliation. Erin Samant and Daxton Rhead helped organize and lead Youth and Reconciliation. What follows is a transcript of their statements to fellow students, allies, Members of Parliament, and Indigenous organizations that were present during the event.

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Nicole Flynn is a twenty-four year old advocate, artist and athlete with Down syndrome. Nicole began public speaking at eight years old when she would talk to various groups - such as classes at the University of Toronto and at Humber, Centennial and Seneca Colleges - about her achievements and goals. As she got older, she started to speak seriously about people who are different and how they want to be treated with equality. Nicole is also passionate about saving the environment. This speech was written for a Youth to Youth Summit in September, 2017.

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This article presents the preliminary results of a research project on customary custody and “adoption” in the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam in northeastern Québec. From a legal pluralist perspective, the authors used a biographical method to understand the workings of the ne kupaniem/ne kupanishkuem Innu legal institution, which can be compared in certain respects to adoption in Western legal systems. The authors present certain characteristics of this institution in order to expose the limits of bills that seek to recognize “indigenous customary adoption” in Québec law. Innu “adoption” stems from an agreement between the concerned persons, which can crystallize gradually, which never breaks the original filial link, and which does not immediately create a new filial link. In theory, this type of adoption is not permanent. As such, a Québec law that only recognizes indigenous adoptions that create a new filial link runs the risk of either being ineffective, or of distorting the Innu legal order.

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This article opens a discussion on the matter of Ontario administrators’, hospital and government employees’ history of tampering with long form birth registration documents in situations where birth mothers were unmarried or separated. Relying on Indigenous methods, such as listening to personal stories, and experts, the author explores how the practice of tampering with birth documents places Indigenous mothers and children in double jeopardy of not only being denied the information of who their biological father is or was, but also potentially being denied Indian status registration. Mothers and their children are deserving of more. This article ends with arguing additional research and funding are needed for a comprehensive understanding of the issue.

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The plan of care is a document completed regularly for every child and youth in the care of Children’s Aid Society in Ontario. Using a mixed methods approach with a strong emphasis on Indigenous Methodologies, a key informant and two Indigenous young people who have been in care share their thoughts about how plans of care can be improved. The youth describe how their plan of care was impacted by the relationship with their worker and level of participation in goal setting. It is discussed that the plan of care presents as a standardized, bureaucratic tool that does not inherently reflect Indigenous culture. These findings lead to recommendations for change including greater opportunities for relationship-building between workers and youth, space for young people to participate in planning, integration of Indigenous culture in plans of care, and the need for reconciliation at the macro level.

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The sexual exploitation of youth is a complex and multidimensional social problem. Understanding the antecedents and factors that entrap youth into the world of sexual exploitation is imperative for effective interventions. This article presents a visual entitled the Waters of Sexual Exploitation that is used as a training tool for social service personnel to understand the world of sexually exploited youth. The visual was developed through an extensive review of the literature as well as in consultation with the Sexually Exploited Youth Training Committee with a specific focus on the overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth who are sexually exploited. The Waters of Sexual Exploitation visual helps to capture the complex relationships that develop between sexually exploited youth, the people that exploit the youth, and the helpers working with youth exiting this world. The visual is enhanced by the inclusion of the lived experience of a survivor of this world.