By Canadian Press

Indigenous kids in care more likely to experience poor health later in life: report

Feb 21, 2025 | 10:47 AM

OTTAWA — Indigenous people who were in government care as children experience poorer health and socioeconomic outcomes later in life than those who were never in care, a new Statistics Canada report says.

They suffer higher rates of disability, lower self-rated health levels and more homelessness, and are more likely to struggle to meet basic household needs, the report says.

Statistics Canada says that despite the closure of residential schools and the end of the Sixties Scoop — the large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their homes for adoption — family separation continues to be “disproportionately high in Indigenous communities.”

According to the 2018 data cited by Statistics Canada, 11 per cent of Indigenous people aged 15 and older reported being under government care as children, while just 2 per cent of non-Indigenous respondents said the same.

The agency says 16 per cent of First Nations children, 9 per cent of Inuit and 6 per cent of Métis reported being under government care.

Chief Pauline Frost, who is serving as the chair of a commission seeking to negotiate First Nations child welfare reforms with Ottawa, says the data points to a broken system that is leaving kids worse off with no immediate change in sight.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press

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Statistics Canada building and signs are pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

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