Indigenous groups welcome Ontario government decision to end birth alerts – The Lawyer’s Daily
July 17, 2020
Indigenous women’s groups say the Ontario government has finally responded to their long-standing request by moving to end the practice of issuing birth alerts.
Effective Oct. 15, children’s aid societies in the province will no longer be allowed to send notifications to hospitals if they believe a newborn may be in need of protection — a procedure critics have said disproportionately affects racialized and marginalized mothers and families.
“Ending birth alerts signals a vital shift towards reducing the number of Indigenous children in care of child welfare,” the Thunder Bay, Ont.-based Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) said in a statement. “Indigenous women have identified birth alerts as a discriminatory practice for many years at ONWA’s Annual General Assemblies.”
The ONWA called on the government to make more investments in programs for Indigenous women, including “trauma-informed prevention services such as Indigenous parenting programs and wraparound supports for mothers.”
