On the Evening of August 22, 2023, Children Family Services showed up to my door with the Edmonton police. They were responding to a call that was made by the workers at Kids Kottage. I had been attempting to access Kids Kottage services, since I had court the next day. Kids Kottage had reported to Children Family services that I was incoherent over the phone and since they had knowledge of me using heroin, previously, suspected that I was on heroin, again. I have been clean for 9 years. Kids Kottage, according to the police, reported me saying that I had intentions to traffick my children for heroin and that my kids were better off dead. Kids Kottage left me standing outside with my children, under the impression that there was supposed to be a taxi coming to pick us up. As time was passing and it was getting darker outside, there was no taxi in sight. Instead I was greeted by CARRT and the Edmonton police. According to their reports, it was just a, “wellness check,” but why did they need an entire team of people? They reported that they were only there, “to talk,” to me, meanwhile their team members were trying to break through the gates of the second stage shelter, in which we reside. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am indigenous and I am no stranger to the child welfare system. I was one of many indigenous children that were scooped from their homes in the 90’s. Many of these children that were apprehended in the 90’s are being compensated for their apprehension, as it has been challenged by the people, to the courts, that these apprehensions were conducted under pretense, and simply a warfare against the indigenous people. That’s what it’s always been about: taking the only thing that the natives ever cared about in order to gain control of them. The moment I saw the police approaching with their puffed up chests, I knew that they had come to take my children and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. The most I could do was take the children back upstairs to our unit and hold them close, taking mental notes of their warmth and smell, as I knew it was just a matter of moments before CARRT made the call to authorize the apprehension of my children, and when indigenous children are scooped, parents never know if they will see their children again. Some children are returned to their parents in boxes. Alberta counts 21 deaths of young people receiving government care just 6 months into the fiscal year. A majority of these deaths were indigenous youth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In February, 2019, Bill-C92 was passed as a preventative measure to ensure that the welfare system is not being used as a warfare against the indigenous, as this has become rather expensive to the government to have to compensate. According to Bill-C92, Children Family Services must be able to show what they did to keep the children in their homes, and apparently just their words alone are enough proof. If the police say it, or CARRT says it, it must be the truth, right? There is absolutely nothing in place to ensure that Children Family Services is following this law, so naturally, they will act above it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARRT showed up to my home around 10:25PM. As soon as they used the words, “safety planning,” I knew that they were just saying that so they could make it look like they were doing what they could to keep my children in the home, on paper. Their idea of a safety plan was to take the children out of my unit and place them in the unit of another resident in my shelter that had relapsed on heroin less than 3 months prior. Obviously, I was not okay with my children being left unattended with someone who subjected themselves to drug use in front of their own children. Their other alternative was to suggest another resident to stay in my unit with me, but guess what? That other resident they had suggested was doing heroin with the first resident they had suggested my children stay with. That wasn’t going to work. The police then asked if I could call any family to come stay with me and I notified them that I reside at a confidential address and I am legally bound under oath not to give the address to anyone. I was backed into a corner. Since I was not able to, “satisfy,” their safety planning requirements, CARRT then made the call to the judge stating that the childrens lives were at risk and the judge granted the order to apprehend my children, by which time, it was already 1:20AM, August 23, and my children and I had already gone to bed. I had fallen asleep in the same bed as my 3 year old daughter. I was awoken by a knock at the door and I was pushed into my unit by the police when I opened the door. I was informed by the police that since the safety plan was not satisfactory to them, they had called the judge and were granted the authority to take the children. I tried to make a call on my tablet and the female officer took my tablet, preventing me from making any calls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was dragged out of my unit by 3 male officers and taken out an emergency exit. My head hit 6 out of 8 stairs, on the way down. The male officers then gaslit me and tormented me on the landing of the stairwell. They called me a lunatic because I was screaming for my life and for my babies. They took a few stabs at my mental health, calling me sick and deranged for having intentions to traffick my children for heroin. They were punishing me for being a child abuser, though I have never abused my children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to their reports, the police had, “affirmed,” due to my, “erratic behavior,” that I was definitely on heroin that night, but I had drug tested myself at 9:30AM on August 24th and no heroin was found. My children were apprehended on unfounded accusations and this was made possible through collaboration of the Edmonton Police, and Children Family Services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children Family Services apprehended 3 children and gave me 2 notices of apprehension that don’t even mention my name, the names of my children, or the address at which this event occurred. I reported to the police that my children had been abducted from their beds. The police asked for the name of the worker on the incorrect papers. That CFS worker then called me from her personal cell phone to tell me that she is not legally obligated to give me the correct papers and that just telling me verbally that she has the authority to take my kids, is enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My children, ages 3, 2, and 8 months were taken from their beds at 1:25AM and split up. Children Family Services went against an active parenting order and placed my 3 year old daughter in a home where she was at risk of molestation. My daughters father and his family were instructed not to give me any information on my daughter, not even a wellness check. They put my 2 year old son to stay at Kids Kottage and my youngest who was still breastfeeding to a crisis unit where he was looked after by CSD worker of Unlimited Potential. That worker is responsible for giving my youngest formula through a newborn bottle. My son was not taking in enough fluids as a result of this improper care and contracted a urinary tract infection that spread to his bladder and kidneys within 10-12 days of being apprehended. My relentless efforts eventually had my sons placed into a kinship home and eventually their big sister was removed from her father’s home and reunited with her brothers. My youngest was admitted to the hospital with a kidney infection while in the care of the kinship home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was somewhat relieved once all of the children were reunited but they were placed in a home that was coaching them to pray in Jesus’s name and they wanted to cut the hairs of my children. It took me more than a month to get my kids back. According to the case worker on our file, it was the fastest they had ever seen kids returned home. All I heard when they told me this was not that the kids were returned so fast, but that they were in the system for too long. Upon being returned home, my children have struggled getting to sleep at night. They talk a lot about how the, "monster got mommy," "we can't save you, mommy," and, "yucky police." My children are traumatized for life, now, and it will take years of volunteer work, on my behalf, in order to hopefully change their opinions about the police, because one day, they will also need the police, and how are they supposed to trust an organization that made them so very afraid as children.
 

 

My story is one of many indigenous and low income families that are targeted by Children Family Services. Children Family Services targets low income families because they can’t afford lawyers to fight back. Legal aid won’t even open a file without a court date. Children Family Services will never stop scooping babies, because that is how they receive their funding; it’s a business. Children Family Services will always target families with small children because the children can’t talk and when it comes to adoption, everyone wants a puppy. 

If reading my story has angered you, in any way, I ask that you stand with me. I am now petitioning the Government of Canada to make available, legal advocacy to parents at the time of apprehension of their children. If it is important for the government to pass laws to prevent the child welfare system from being used as a warfare against the indigenous, then it is important that they take action to make sure that these laws are being followed, and just relying on the, “honorable words,” of the police and Children Family Services, is not satisfactory to the people. The people need more opportunity to defend themselves from financial discrimination and systemic racism. 

Justin Trudeau needs to act now! If he doesn't, I will be filing a formal complaint of these grave and systematic violations to the United Nations. Let's not let that happen. I started this petition because I knew if we all came together, we could give low income and indigenous families a fighting chance against Children Family Services scooping children on pretense or unfounded accusations.

This petition, if successful, will reduce the amount of apprehensions per year by a great amount. People on low income, indigenous peoples, and peoples new to Canada, alike, with legal advocacy to know their rights, as it be overseen that their human rights are not being violated, that all lives are being respected. With time these families can focus on the betterment of their lives, instead of being left to pick up the pieces, and for some, shattered permanently. Please take a minute to sign and share, today.