For decades, Indigenous, Black and other racialized families and communities have raised the alarm that their children are over-represented in the child welfare system. Although Indigenous and racialized children's pathways through the system are quite different, Ontario-based research shows that racial disparities, that is differences between racial groups at decision-making points in a service, do exist.The number of Indigenous children in care is staggering, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has called the situation a "growing crisis." To respond to these concerns, in 2016 the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) launched a public interest inquiry to examine the involvement of Indigenous and racialized children and youth in the child welfare system. The goal was to examine whether Indigenous and Black children are over-represented at CASs, particularly in admissions into care. This report discusses the results of this analysis, and describes the human rights-based date collection practices CASs use.

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