Yukon First Nations leader speaks out about group home abuse allegations

Over the past two weeks, three Yukon Government whistleblowers and two youth have shared stories of mistreatment, abuse and physical fights within the territory's child protection system.

• Young people speak out about violence, mistreatment at Yukon group homes
• Systemic issues putting children in Yukon group homes at risk, say 2 more whistleblowers

Following the initial reports, opposition leaders demanded answers from the Yukon Government in Legislature.

The government has announced a "systemic review" of the group homes, which are run under the government's Transitional Support Services Programming.

• Yukon gov't under fire amid allegations of abuse, mistreatment in Yukon group homes

Kwanlin Dn Chief Doris Bill spoke to CBC's Sandi Coleman about the state of group homes in Yukon, and what she would like to see happen next.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Chief Doris Bill's introduction:

The thing that concerned me the most about the youth advocate office is that they are able to initiate investigations on a case-by-case basis, but that office is so small. They only have two staff persons and there's limits as to what they can do because their caseload is so high. I'd like to see more resources put into that particular office. Because that is their voice. I think that the youth advocate office can initiate investigations but in the end, what they can do is make recommendations. They have no teeth, they have no authority.

You think it should be a Yukon Government review, not independent?

I don't think the two people within the office are equipped to handle the review. They can handle individual cases, but I think a systemic review is a bit too large for that office. What they can do is give that office the authority to hire an independent investigator, conduct that review and have the investigator report back to an all-party committee.

One whistleblower called this a continuation of residential school.

The system has been going on for many, many years. I was in a group home when I was a youth and they haven't changed an awful lot over the years. Some things have improved. I remember in my days when you had a problem, and the caregiver was part of that problem, there was nowhere to go. There was literally nobody you could bring your problem to. And then you started to build up a wall around yourself and that wall as many people know is very very difficult to bring back down. I am disheartened to hear that after all these years that's how people still view the system. But it tells me we have an awful lot of work to do yet. A majority of children in care are Kwanlin Dn.

Do you believe the Yukon Government is trying to change this?

Yes I do, and if you look at the numbers of children in care, those numbers are coming down.

Yes, but the whistleblower says the department is more concerned with optics to be able to say the number of kids in group homes are going down than actually meeting the true need there, and that's why kids are being turned away.

It goes to show what First Nations people have been saying all along is the right way to go look at extended families, equalize financial payments to extended families, to grandparents, give them the same level of resources and financial benefits that you do foster parents. And it's working from that regard. In terms of the group homes, Kwanlin Dn is looking at its own group home and that's where we can make some really meaningful changes. One of the things we're looking at is a concept called Aunties House it will be built from our holistic approach. We'll look at programs and services that meet our kids' needs and some of it will involve land-based cultural programs. Right now, we are starting to have more contact with kids in care. In the past it's been very difficult for our community to have that access and we've been working very hard to get access to those children, to try and bring them back into the community fold so we can they can get to know their own people.

Why has this been difficult?

I chalk it up to cultural the way the system is set up. There needed to be a cultural shift within Health and Social Services and I think with a memorandum of understanding through Kwanlin Dn some of that has been happening. We've been paving the way in a number of areas. I don't know if you remember quite some time ago, when Mike Smith, former chief of Kwanlin Dn, banned all the social workers from the community. We've had to rebuild that relationship from the ground up. There was a real good reason behind that. The department was unwilling to listen and we regret that it had to come to that, but since that time we've worked very hard on our relationship with Health and Social Services and I'm happy to say we are in a better place than we were way back then.