{"id":99273,"date":"2025-11-14T09:01:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T14:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=99273"},"modified":"2025-11-14T09:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T14:02:25","slug":"through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews This is the second story in a three-part series about child welfare jurisdiction in Gitanmaax. You can read the first part here. Ayawasw (Audrey Woods) sits at the end of a large grey table in the boardroom of Wila Dildilsdi\u2019m \u2014 the new Gitanmaax family services department. She reflects on how, back in the 1980s, she, her aunt Charlotte Sullivan, and then-chief councillor Marjorie McRae made a decision that would change the way child welfare unfolded in their community. On their own time \u2014 without pay or formal recognition \u2014 the three Gitxsan women put themselves on call for every home visit the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) made. Day or night, they showed up. \u201cIt was just an impromptu… <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews This is the second story in a three-part series about child welfare jurisdiction in Gitanmaax. You can read the first part here. Ayawasw (Audrey Woods) sits at the end of a large grey table in the boardroom of Wila Dildilsdi\u2019m \u2014 the new Gitanmaax family services department. She reflects on how, back in the 1980s, she, her aunt Charlotte Sullivan, and then-chief councillor Marjorie McRae made a decision that would change the way child welfare unfolded in their community. On their own time \u2014 without pay or formal recognition \u2014 the three Gitxsan women put themselves on call for every home visit the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) made. Day or night, they showed up. \u201cIt was just an impromptu... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nThrough the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews This is the second story in a three-part series about child welfare jurisdiction in Gitanmaax. You can read the first part here. Ayawasw (Audrey Woods) sits at the end of a large grey table in the boardroom of Wila Dildilsdi\u2019m \u2014 the new Gitanmaax family services department. She reflects on how, back in the 1980s, she, her aunt Charlotte Sullivan, and then-chief councillor Marjorie McRae made a decision that would change the way child welfare unfolded in their community. On their own time \u2014 without pay or formal recognition \u2014 the three Gitxsan women put themselves on call for every home visit the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) made. Day or night, they showed up. \u201cIt was just an impromptu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-14T14:01:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-14T14:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-14T14:01:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-14T14:02:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3146,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/\",\"name\":\"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-14T14:01:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-14T14:02:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/14\\\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews This is the second story in a three-part series about child welfare jurisdiction in Gitanmaax. You can read the first part here. Ayawasw (Audrey Woods) sits at the end of a large grey table in the boardroom of Wila Dildilsdi\u2019m \u2014 the new Gitanmaax family services department. She reflects on how, back in the 1980s, she, her aunt Charlotte Sullivan, and then-chief councillor Marjorie McRae made a decision that would change the way child welfare unfolded in their community. On their own time \u2014 without pay or formal recognition \u2014 the three Gitxsan women put themselves on call for every home visit the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) made. Day or night, they showed up. \u201cIt was just an impromptu","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2025-11-14T14:01:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-14T14:02:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"14 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD","datePublished":"2025-11-14T14:01:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-14T14:02:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/"},"wordCount":3146,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/","name":"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-14T14:01:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-14T14:02:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/14\/through-the-years-how-gitxsan-women-fought-to-assert-child-welfare-jurisdiction-away-from-mcfd\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Through the years: How Gitxsan women fought to assert child welfare jurisdiction away from MCFD"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99274,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99273\/revisions\/99274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}