How Bill C-92 Protects Indigenous Families in Child Welfare

Bill C-92, in force since January 2020, recognizes Indigenous peoples' inherent right to govern child welfare for their own communities. For Indigenous parents, it means your child's cultural continuity, connection to their nation, and Indigenous identity must be actively protected — not considered as an afterthought — in every child welfare decision that affects your family.

Before Bill C-92, Indigenous communities had limited legal authority over what happened to their children in the provincial child welfare system. They could advocate. They could advise. But provincial law governed, and cultural continuity was treated as secondary.

Bill C-92 changed the legal framework. It did not solve the problem — Indigenous children remain 53.8% of children in Canadian foster care — but it created rights that parents and communities can now assert directly.

What the law actually says

An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families establishes national principles that apply to any child welfare service delivered to Indigenous children:

• The best interests of an Indigenous child include their cultural continuity and connection to their community.
• Cultural continuity means maintaining the child’s connection to their nation’s culture, language, customs, traditions, ceremonies, and spiritual beliefs.
• Substantive equality: Indigenous peoples must not be disadvantaged in accessing child and family services.

These are not aspirational statements. They are principles that courts and child welfare agencies are required to apply.

Your right to cultural continuity in practice

Under Bill C-92, cultural continuity is not a program or an option. It is a right. If your child is placed with a provider who does not support their cultural identity — their language, their connection to Elders, their access to ceremony — that placement may not meet the standard the law requires.

Ask, in writing: What steps is this placement taking to maintain my child’s cultural continuity? If you do not receive a clear answer, document that gap.

Your nation’s jurisdiction

If your nation has passed child welfare laws or entered into a coordination agreement under Bill C-92, those laws may take precedence. Contact your band office or tribal council to ask whether your nation has taken steps under this legislation.

Nations that have moved forward under Bill C-92 include Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, which signed a coordination agreement in 2021, and several nations in British Columbia.

What is still missing

Bill C-92 created jurisdiction. It did not create a standard for what a certified, culturally safe child welfare provider looks like at the placement level. That gap is exactly what IFISC is designed to fill. The seven-pillar framework gives communities the tool to evaluate and certify providers against Indigenous-defined standards — making Bill C-92’s principles operational at the level of the actual placement.

Learn more about how IFISC connects to Bill C-92 at ifisc.org/the-standard/, or contact us at [email protected].

If you are an Indigenous family navigating child welfare in BC and need peer support, contact KFT-Families Society at [email protected], call Lori at 604-512-3266, or visit keeping-families-together.com. IFISC operates weekly peer support circles, connects families with culturally grounded resources, and provides guidance to parents at every stage of the child welfare process — at no cost.