Canada's effective monopoly on First Nations citizenship (ep 243)

MEDIA INDIGENA : Indigenous current affairs

A new brief from the Yellowhead Institute has shone a light on yet another Canadian government attack on the spirit if not the letter of a human rights order demanding equity for First Nations kids. Issued by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the order supports the right of First Nations children to access the same essential public services as any other kid in Canada, free of delays due to disputes over who should pay for it. It's known as Jordan's Principle, named for the late Jordan River Anderson, whose all-too-short 5 years of life was marred by such jurisdictional disputes.

Although everyone says they agree with the principle, their actions tell a different story, a new chapter of which is well documented in the recent Yellowhead brief, "Happy New Year To Everyone But Non-Status Kids: Jordan’s Principle & Canada’s Persistent Discrimination." In this episode, we sit down with Yellowhead Associate Fellow Damien Lee to learn more about what's driving federal moves to restrict the principle to Status Indian kids only—in other words, to only those kids Canada deems 'legitimately' Indian, regardless of who First Nations themselves claim as citizens.

// CREDITS: This episode was edited by Stephanie Wood. Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.