Supreme Court upholds Ottawa’s Indigenous child welfare law, denies Quebec’s appeal

By Alessia Passafiume THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA- Indigenous communities and leaders across the country cheered Friday as the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the federal government’s child welfare law, affirming that First Nations, Metis and Inuit have sole authority over the protection of their children. The unanimous decision is a setback for the Quebec government, which won a victory in 2022 when the Court of Appeal found that parts of the act overstepped federal jurisdiction. Indigenous leaders lauded the high court’s findings as dozens of the very children at the heart of the decision ran rampant around an Ottawa conference room. “Our peoples have compromised enough,” said Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador regional chief Ghislain Picard. A group of children wearing ribbon skirts, kokum scarves and ribbon shirts sat in…

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