Canada’s colonial practice of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families did not end with the closing of Indian residential schools. It continues today in the form of provincial and territorial child welfare systems, which remove Indigenous children and youth at alarmingly high rates. This film features the voices of Indigenous youth as they reflect on their prior involvement with child welfare and share their multiple strategies of resistance to assimilation and state control. Adding to these insights, First Nations child advocate Cindy Blackstock traces the term ‘neglect’, the main rationale for child welfare removals, to its roots in the residential school system, and points to laws that codify structural discrimination, the leading cause of child welfare (dis)placements. With Tyler Blackface, Cindy Blackstock, Tia Ledesma, Brianna Olsen and Donovan Waskahat.

Documentary video produced in 2016. "This film began as a way to record stories Indigenous youth in Calgary, Alberta, shared during their work on the collaborative research project: Uncovering colonial legacies: voices of Indigenous youth in child welfare (dis)placements". Wide screen (1.78:1). Teaching guide available with the streaming version. Also available DV3147.