Article 30: Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Rights of Minority or Indigenous Children

Abstract‘By promoting the differences through accepting their holidays, respecting their important days, celebrating important days connected with their tradition and culture.’ (Eastern Europe)

Indigenous parents and child welfare: Mistrust, epistemic injustice, and training

The settler state's taking of Indigenous children into care disrupts their communities and continues destructive, assimilationist policies. This article presents the perceptions of lawyers, social workers and judges of how Indigenous parents experience child welfare in Quebec. Our participants characterized those experiences negatively. Barriers of language and culture as well as mistrust impede meaningful participation. Parents experience epistemic injustice, wronged in their capacity as knowers. Mistrust also hampers efforts to include Indigenous workers in the system. Emphasizing state workers’ ignorance of Indigenous family practices and the harms of settler colonialism, participants called for greater training. But critical literature on professional education signals the limits of such training to change institutions. Our findings reinforce the jurisdictional calls away from improving the system towards empowering Indigenous peoples to run services of child welfare. The patterns detected and theoretical resources used are relevant to researchers of other institutions that interact with vulnerable populations.

A Systematic Review of Child Health and Developmental Outcomes Associated with Low Birthweight and/or Small for Gestational Age in Indigenous Children from Australia, Canada and New Zealand

While much is known about the health implications of low birthweight for infants and adults, there is limited information about the health implications in childhood, particularly for Indigenous children. The aim of this systematic review was to assess associations between low birthweight (LBW) and/or small for gestational age (SGA) and the developmental, physical or mental health outcomes for Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Indigenous children (5–12 years), including the potential mediating role of cultural connections. The review was guided by an Aboriginal Advisory Group established to guide the Aboriginal Families Study. Four databases were investigated with pre-determined inclusion/exclusion criteria. The search identified 417 articles after independent screening by two authors. Eight studies assessing six child outcomes were included. The review identified limited evidence, although the review suggested possible links between LBW and/or SGA and childhood asthma, lower body mass index (BMI) and poorer academic performance. Links between LBW, SGA and disability, global health and developmental vulnerability were inconclusive. One study identified cultural-based resilience as protective against perinatal adversity. In summary, research on the relationship between adverse birth outcomes and Indigenous children’s health and development is limited. Further investigation and collaboration with Indigenous communities is required to drive optimised health and social services responses and equitable system reform.

"Gokum showed me how": Four Cree children's perspectives on language and culture maintenance

<p>Eighty percent of Indigenous children in Canada attend provincial schools off-reserve where there is no legal requirement for inclusion of Indigenous language or content in the curriculum. This has implications for the twin challenges currently faced by Indigenous communities in Canada of maintaining traditional cultures and languages while also overcoming a large gap in educational achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. While the challenges are well understood, there has been little research into these issues from the perspective of the primary stakeholders in education: children. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of four Cree children, their family members, and some teachers through a critical, social constructivist lens in the context of a James Bay Cree community in northern Quebec, Canada. This study asks, “How do Cree children who live on a reserve and attend non-Indigenous schools, and their families, make space for the expression and maintenance of their language and culture in daily life?” The data analysed include a ‘photovoice’ project conducted with the four students, and focus group discussions held with the children, their families, and teachers. The findings demonstrate that families maintain Cree traditions through land-based activities like hunting, supported by intergenerational teaching within the family. Although participants expressed cautious optimism for language maintenance, students and parents perceived that Cree knowledge has no place outside of Cree communities. Teachers felt constrained by their lack of confidence, resources or government mandate for including Cree content. Overall, between Indigenous communities’ twin challenges of culture maintenance and school achievement, achievement appears to be valued more highly by some parents and teachers. These findings have implications for how we understand the ongoing effects of colonization, globalization, and the hegemony of dominant languages and cultures in Indigenous education.</p>

"Gokum showed me how": Four Cree children's perspectives on language and culture maintenance

<p>Eighty percent of Indigenous children in Canada attend provincial schools off-reserve where there is no legal requirement for inclusion of Indigenous language or content in the curriculum. This has implications for the twin challenges currently faced by Indigenous communities in Canada of maintaining traditional cultures and languages while also overcoming a large gap in educational achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. While the challenges are well understood, there has been little research into these issues from the perspective of the primary stakeholders in education: children. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of four Cree children, their family members, and some teachers through a critical, social constructivist lens in the context of a James Bay Cree community in northern Quebec, Canada. This study asks, “How do Cree children who live on a reserve and attend non-Indigenous schools, and their families, make space for the expression and maintenance of their language and culture in daily life?” The data analysed include a ‘photovoice’ project conducted with the four students, and focus group discussions held with the children, their families, and teachers. The findings demonstrate that families maintain Cree traditions through land-based activities like hunting, supported by intergenerational teaching within the family. Although participants expressed cautious optimism for language maintenance, students and parents perceived that Cree knowledge has no place outside of Cree communities. Teachers felt constrained by their lack of confidence, resources or government mandate for including Cree content. Overall, between Indigenous communities’ twin challenges of culture maintenance and school achievement, achievement appears to be valued more highly by some parents and teachers. These findings have implications for how we understand the ongoing effects of colonization, globalization, and the hegemony of dominant languages and cultures in Indigenous education.</p>

Aspirations and Worries: The Role of Parental Intrinsic Motivation in Establishing Oral Health Practices for Indigenous Children

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (respectfully, subsequently referred to as Indigenous) children in Australia experience oral disease at a higher rate than non-Indigenous children. A history of colonisation, government-enforced assimilation, racism, and cultural annihilation has had profound impacts on Indigenous health, reflected in oral health inequities sustained by Indigenous communities. Motivational interviewing was one of four components utilised in this project, which aimed to identify factors related to the increased occurrence of early childhood caries in Indigenous children. This qualitative analysis represents motivational interviews with 226 participants and explores parents’ motivations for establishing oral health and nutrition practices for their children. Findings suggest that parental aspirations and worries underscored motivations to establish oral health and nutrition behaviours for children in this project. Within aspirations, parents desired for children to ‘keep their teeth’ and avoid false teeth, have a positive appearance, and preserve self-esteem. Parental worries related to child pain, negative appearance, sugar consumption, poor community oral health and rotten teeth. A discussion of findings results in the following recommendations: (1) consideration of the whole self, including mental health, in future oral health programming and research; (2) implementation of community-wide oral health programming, beyond parent-child dyads; and (3) prioritisation of community knowledge and traditions in oral health programming.

P036 Trajectories of emotional and behavioural problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: Role of sleep and cultural attachment

Purpose This study explored the link between sleep and emotional and behavioural problems and assessed whether cultural attachment reduces the risk of emotional and behavioural problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children. Methods The data from wave 5 to wave 10 of the Footprints in Time cohort were used. Multi-trajectory modelling was used to identify sleep trajectories using weekday sleep duration, weekday bedtimes, wake times, and sleep problems (waves 5, 7 & 10). Trajectories of emotional and behavioural problems were derived from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) data (waves 6, 8 & 10). Cultural attachment assessment included the knowledge of Indigenous language, clan, people, family stories/history and other cultural practice. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the link between sleep and emotional and behavioural problems. Results Analysis of sleep data from 1270 Indigenous children (50.6% females, mean age 6.3 years (±1.5)) identified four distinct trajectories: early sleepers/early risers (19.3%); early/long sleepers (22.1%), normative sleepers (47.8%), and late sleepers (10.8%). Three emotional and behavioural problem trajectories emerged: low stable (49.1%), high decreasing (40.5%), and high stable (10.4%). Early sleepers//early risers (OR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.28–0.82) and children with strong cultural attachment (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27–0.82) had lower odds of being in the high emotional and behavioural problem trajectory group. Conclusions Early bedtime in children may reduce the risk of future emotional and behavioural problems. The protective effect of cultural attachment further highlights the need for strengths-based approaches to reduce mental health issues in Indigenous children.