THUNDER BAY – The Matawa Chiefs Council has raised concerns over reports of ongoing birth alerts on Indigenous newborns in Thunder Bay, despite government directives to discontinue the practice.
“It is distressing to the Matawa Chiefs Council that, after two years of their being mandated by the Ontario government to be discontinued, we are still hearing that birth alerts are taking place in Thunder Bay and in municipalities where Matawa women are birthing their babies. It is not right and services should be in place prior to/during a birth so that an Indigenous baby is not apprehended at the hospital,” said Chief Cornelius Wabasse of Webequie First Nation in a release on Friday.
“Our people have experienced our children being stolen during the residential school era. We will not allow that to continue as a result of child welfare. We encourage mothers from Matawa who have been victimized by a birth alert to reach out to determine if they are eligible to participate in the class action that is taking place.”
A birth alert is a practice in which a social or health care worker notifies the staff of a hospital if they have concerns for the safety of an expected child based on their parents' history, which can include past instances of poverty, domestic violence, drug usage, and history with child welfare.
Birth alerts are typically issued without the parents' consent and often result in apprehension and placement of the child into foster care after birth.
In June 2019, the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls recommended the abolition of "the practice of targeting and apprehending infants (hospital alerts or birth alerts) from Indigenous mothers right after they give birth," saying they were "racist and discriminatory and are a gross violation of the rights of the child, the mother, and the community."
“Babies born into our nations have rights both at conception and as soon as they take their first breath. We are standing up for them so that they have the chance to bond with their mothers and families and engage in cultural practices when they are first born,” said Chief Sheri Taylor of Ginoogaming First Nation.
“Mainstream western non-Indigenous institutions made birth alerts based on assumptions they have of our people. It resulted in another way to govern us, rather than protect us. Birth alerts are nothing short of narrow, racialized, racist ethnocentrism.”
On July 14, 2020, Associate Minister of Children and Women's Issues Jill Dunlop directed Ontario's Children's Aid Societies to stop issuing birth alerts by Oct. 15, 2020.
During discussions last week, the Matawa Chiefs Council directed that informational material be developed and distributed in locations where pre-natal and post-natal services are provided, including the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s Labour and Delivery/Maternal Newborn Unit and hospitals in municipalities like Greenstone, Hearst and Sioux Lookout where women from Matawa deliver their babies, so that parents know there is support.
In response to the reports of ongoing birth alerts, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre released a statement saying that TBRHSC staff do not perform birth alerts.
"Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre does not participate in the practice of birth alerts and is committed to keeping it that way," a representative of the hospital said in the statement.
As reports of birth alerts by Matawa members continue, Matawa Chief’s Council has formed a band rep program in Thunder Bay to aid new mothers.
“As the leaders of Matawa, we have formed a band rep program here in the city of Thunder Bay and it acts the same way as those of us who have band rep programs in our own individual communities, So, with the band rep program here in Thunder Bay, they also assist us, with our community members of Long Lake #58 First Nation who also live in the city,” said Chief Judy Desmoulin of Long Lake #58 First Nation.
“So with the Band Rep Program here in Thunder Bay, the program manager is Robin Haliuk. She will be able to guide you into helping with some of those legal issues or legal questions that you may have, all of you mothers, all of you families, you have the right to legal representation if you should encounter or experience birth alerts or any kind of threats to having your child removed.”
More information on how to contact Matawa in the event of a birth alert or threats of removal of a child can be found here.
