LAWS 3908 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Indian Act, Adversarial Process, Spallumcheen
Document Summary
Laws 3908 indigenous families and the child welfare system. Historically, the state always refrained from intervening in matters occurring inside the home. That being said, the state left it up to the family to decide what goes on inside their own houses and did not attempt to intervene ever. However, over time, law started to develop which: Required parents to provide necessities of life. Created a child welfare framework (starting 1800s onwards) The colonial government assumed superiority of its own approach to child rearing, which had a direct impact on indigenous child-rearing methods. Early missionaries condemned indigenous child-rearing methods as negligent, irresponsible and uncivilized. Indigenous people eventually were considered wards of the state . As a result, education provided as the primary method for the government of civilizing" indigenous peoples. The government delegated this responsibility to religious entities, which aimed to replace the. Indigenous beliefs with the christian values that the colonial government though was so superior.
