Important: You can now submit a Claim for the Removed Child Class and Removed Child Family Class. Learn more about how to complete a Claim.
The Cultural Safety and Inclusiveness Training webinar series was designed to support service providers who may assist Claimants throughout the Claims Process.
This webinar series explains the history of the Settlement, the impact of systemic discrimination on First Nation Children, youth, families, and communities. It underscores the importance of taking a trauma-informed and culturally safe approach when providing support to those affected by the Settlement.
This training was delivered as four webinars in February 2025, and is part of the Settlement Agreement’s requirements in Schedule I.
If you have questions about the administration of the Settlement, please contact the Administrator at no charge by calling 1‑833‑852‑0755 (Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET excluding statutory holidays) or emailing Generalinfo@Contact.FNChildClaims.ca.
About the training
The Settlement Agreement outlines the need for training on the history of colonialism, residential schools, this Settlement and the systemic discrimination of Children, youth, families and Nations.
Each webinar aims to support those working with and supporting Claimants by
- Providing trauma-informed and culturally safe supports
- Fostering a Claimant-centered approach
This information may be helpful to anyone supporting or providing services to those affected by this Settlement Agreement.
Webinars
History of colonization and impact of residential and day schools
Speaker: Dr. Patricia Makokis
Webinar 2: 68 minutes
This webinar explores the historical and contemporary impacts of colonization on Indigenous Peoples and its socio-political and cultural consequences. Participants will review specific policies, such as the Indian Act and residential school systems, and explore their impact on First Nations identities, family dynamics and community structures. Participants will explore reconciliation, resilience, and the ongoing struggles faced by First Nations Peoples today.
In watching this webinar, you will learn about:
- Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples and how it has been deeply impacted by colonialism
- Treaties and policies like the Indian Act that disrupted communities, leadership and cultural practices
- How life in Residential Schools involved harsh discipline, forced labour, and medical experiments
- The lasting effects on families and communities, including intergenerational trauma, seen in issues like poverty, addiction and missing Indigenous women and Children
- Review the process of reconciliation in Canada, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report
Child welfare: Policies and child removal history
Speaker: Francine Monroe
Webinar 3: 76 minutes
This webinar discusses the historical and contemporary practices of forced sterilization, the Sixties Scoop and birth alerts as systemic methods to control First Nations Children and families. Participants will investigate the socio-cultural, ethical and legal ramifications of these practices, their connection to colonial policies and ongoing effects on Indigenous communities.
In watching this webinar, you will learn about:
- Indigenous Child removal policies, including residential schools, Sixties Scoop and contemporary birth alerts
- Long-lasting harm to First Nations communities, including loss of language, traditions, and community structures
- Disrupted family dynamics that perpetuate cycles of trauma and affect mental health, social services and the number of First Nations Children in care
- Efforts toward healing and reconciliation, such as the 2007 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which are part of the ongoing process to address historical wrongs
Speaker biographies
Indigenous Cultural Context
Dr. Lana R. Potts, Training Lead and Speaker
As the leader of this training development endeavour, Dr. Potts is a highly accomplished and esteemed physician, renowned for her exceptional expertise in healthcare management and leadership. With a passion for patient care and a commitment to advancing medical practices, Dr. Potts serves as the Medical Director at Aisokinaki Clinic, an Indigenous Led Health Care program grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing. Dr. Potts completed her medical education at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine where she demonstrated outstanding academic excellence and led ground-breaking research in utilizing social determinants as a leading cause of health deficits in First Nation communities. Following medical school, she pursued specialized training in Indigenous Health at UBC where she honed her clinical skills and developed a profound understanding of patient care and health policy development. Lana co-founded and implemented the only National Covid-19 vaccine program directed toward First Nation communities. She brings 23 years of experience in health care and is considered a content expert in Indigenous Health communities and governance structures.
An Introduction to the Settlement Agreement
Stuart Wuttke, Speaker
Stuart Wuttke is a leader in Indigenous rights and policy reform. A member of Garden Hill First Nation in Treaty 5 territory in Manitoba, Mr. Wuttke has been pivotal to the development of new legislation at the federal level which is rights based, such as the new child and family services legislation. As General Counsel at the AFN, Mr. Wuttke has successfully advanced many large class action settlements, including implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (2006) and the more recent agreement in principle related to ending discrimination against Indigenous children and youth, and their families (2022). His profound expertise and involvement on the national stage in First Nations law has lent itself to the significant progress for First Nations and the advancement of reconciliation in Canada.
History of Colonization and Impact of Residential and Day Schools
Dr. Patricia Makokis, Speaker
Dr Patricia Makokis is one of Canada’s grassroots Indigenous servant leaders. Her dynamic experiences, strong relationships with Indigenous knowledge keepers and elders, heavy involvement in the community and her 25+ career in academia give her a very unique approach when sharing insights and offering solutions. Dr. Patricia Makokis is from Saddle Lake Cree Nation and is on a mission to inform, educate and gain allies to create a bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples through her work. She is passionate to help facilitate the development of Indigenous wellness (economic, health, social, and education); fostering positive business/industry relations between Indigenous Peoples and industry/business (relational leadership) and rebuilding Nations (one person at a time).
Child Welfare: Policies and Child Removal History
Francine Monroe, Speaker
Francine Monroe, IMSW “Pretty Badger Women”, is a member from Piikani Nation. She is married to Jarrett Monroe from Blackfeet Nation in Montana and together they raise their children. Francine and Jarrett are also an open kinship home for children in care in southern Alberta. Francine has 24 years in the delivery of child protective services within the province of Alberta, addressing various social issues. She has engaged both independently and in collaboration with service providers to improve family preservation efforts. She possesses a profound understanding of identifying the underlying causes of familial discord. In June 2024, she applied for early retirement from her position as a Child Protection Supervisor with Piikani Child and Family Services. She is currently in the process of opening a receiving and reunification home for children and their families, to maintain the family unit. She is a trustee with the Peigan Board of Education Society where she can continue to advocate for children. Francine’s passion is her Blackfoot culture, and she knows the importance of reconnecting with our Indigenous way of life. She is a dedicated advisor who has transferred rights within the sacred societies and believes that the challenges faced by our children, youth, and families are rooted in the complexities of intergenerational trauma. As a child of a Residential School survivor, a child impacted by the Sixties Scoop and the foster care system, she has firsthand experience of how colonial policies and systems continue to affect our Indigenous communities. She has a strong commitment to working with Indigenous Peoples and is dedicated to assisting, empowering, guiding, encouraging, and supporting those that face challenging social conditions. Francine earned a Master’s Degree in Indigenous Social Work and was mentored by the late Dr. Betty Bastien. Her embodiment of our Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing is what guides her delivery of quality service.
Disclaimer
The information shared in training and on this website is for general purposes only and does not represent the views or opinions of Deloitte. Deloitte is not providing advice or services by sharing this information. It is important to seek professional advice or services before making any decisions or taking any actions that may impact Class Members or individuals supporting Class Members. Deloitte will not be held responsible for any actions taken based on this webinar or webpage.
If you have Claim-specific questions, please contact the Administrator at no charge by calling 1-833-852-0755 (Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET excluding statutory holidays) or emailing Generalinfo@Contact.FNChildClaims.ca.
Additional resources
Books
- Split Tooth, by Tanya Tagaq
About a girl growing up in Nunavut in the 1970s, in a story that veers back and forth between the grittiest features of a small arctic town, the world of animals, and world of myth.
- Moccasin Square Gardens, by Richard Van Camp
A collection of humorous short fiction set in Denendeh, the land of the people north of the 60th parallel.
- Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Though he has been missing for nearly a year, Joan hasn’t given up on finding her husband Victor, who disappeared after their first serious fight. One morning, hungover Joan finds herself in a packed preacher’s tent on a Walmart parking lot. The charismatic Reverend Wolff is none other than Victor, who claims to have no memory of Joan or their life together.
- This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
A graphic novel anthology presenting Canadian history from the last 150 years from multiple viewpoints, including Métis, Inuit, Dene, Cree, Anishinaabe, and Mi’kmaq.
- Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie were taken from their families and sent to a residential school when they were very small. Barely out of childhood, they are released and left to contend with the seedy world of eastside Vancouver. Fuelled by the trauma of their childhood, the five friends cross paths over the decades and struggle with the weight of their shared past.
- Indians on Vacation by Thomas King
In Indians on Vacation, meet Bird and Mimi. They are Inspired by a handful of old postcards sent by Uncle Leroy nearly a hundred years earlier, Bird and Mimi attempt to trace Mimi’s long-lost uncle and the family medicine bundle he took with him to Europe. This is the unforgettable tale of one couple’s holiday trip to Europe, where their wanderings through its famous capitals reveal a complicated history, both personal and political.
- Keeper’n Me by Richard Wagamese
Richard Wagamese weaves a fascinating story about an Ojibwe man who was taken by Children’s Aid as a child and after a series of foster homes finally escapes. Unfortunately his freedom is curtailed when life on the streets results in jail time. To his good fortune his Ojibwe family locates him and he returns to the reserve.
- The North-West is our Mother by Jean Teillet
The story of Louis Riel’s People, The Métis Nation by Jean Teillet: A history of the Métis Peoples, their culture and their fight for recognition, their lands and their rights and freedoms.
- Decolonizing data: unsettling conversations about social research methods by Quinless, Jacqueline M.
The story of Louis Riel’s People, The Métis Nation by Jean Teillet: A history of the Métis Peoples, their culture and their fight for recognition, their lands and This book draws on both western and Indigenous research methodologies to examine the ways that everyday research practices contribute to the colonization of health outcomes for Indigenous Peoples, while offering thoughtful reflections on how to “unsettle conversations” about applied social research initiatives for Indigenous Peoples.
- Wise Practices: Exploring Indigenous Economic Justice and Self-Determination, Editors Robert Hamilton, John Borrows, Brent Mainprize
This book investigates legal, economic, and political practices, and includes research from interviews with Indigenous political and business leaders, to offer insights grounded in lived experience on theories of economic development, and grounded practices of governances.
- A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
Alicia Elliott explores the systemic oppression faced by Indigenous Peoples across Canada through the lens of her own experiences as a Tuscarora writer from Six Nations of the Grand River. Elliott examines how colonial violence, including the loss of language, seeps into the present day lives of Indigenous Peoples, often in the form of mental illness.
- Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City recounts with clarity and honesty the truths surrounding the lives of seven Indigenous teenagers who lost their lives while attending high school in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Robyn Harper, Paul Panacheese, Reggie Bushie, Kyle Morrisseau, and Jordan Wabasse attended secondary school to further their education because their northern home communities lacked such basic facilities. Between 2001 and 2011 these seven students lost their lives in circumstances that that many readers will conclude are unacceptable.
- Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente
Part memoir and part manifesto, Unreconciled by Jesse Wente, Ojibwe, and a member of Serpent River First Nation, is a stirring call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous Peoples.
- Peace and Good Order – The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada by Harold R. Johnson
Harold R. Johnson is a former prosecutor and the author of several books. In his latest, Peace and Good Order, Johnson makes the case that Canada is failing to fulfil its legal duty to deliver justice to Indigenous Peoples. In fact, he argues, Canada is making the situation worse and creating even more long-term damage to Indigenous communities.
- Suffer the Little Children by Tamara Starblanket
This book tackles one of the most compelling issues of our time — the crime of genocide — and whether in fact it can be said to have occurred in relation to the many Original Nations on Great Turtle Island now claimed by a state called Canada.
- Clearing the Plains by James Daschuk
Daschuk shows how infectious disease and state-supported starvation combined to create a creeping, relentless catastrophe that persists to the present day.
- Indigenous Healing by Rupert Ross
Imagine a world in which people see themselves as embedded in the natural order, with ethical responsibilities not only toward each other, but also toward rocks, trees, water and all nature. Imagine seeing yourself not as a master of Creation, but as the most humble, dependent and vulnerable part. Rupert Ross explores this indigenous world view and the determination of indigenous thinkers to restore it to full prominence today.
Films and long-form videos
- Beans (2020)
- Based on true events, Tracey Deer’s debut feature chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec.
- Café Daughter (2023)
- Half-Chinese, half-Cree Yvette Wong struggles to find her place in a small Saskatchewan community in the 1960s.
- Bones of Crows (2022)
- Cree code talker Aline Spears survives her traumatic past in Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight against systemic starvation, racism and sexual abuse.
- Cold Road (2024)
- On a frozen remote motorway in the Canadian North, an Indigenous woman and her dog are hunted by a stranger in a semi truck.
- Mashkawi-Manidoo Bimaadiziwin Spirit to Soar (2021)
- In the wake of an inquest into the mysterious deaths of seven First Nations high school students in Thunder Bay, Ont., Tanya Talaga examines what – if anything – has changed since they died.
- How to Lose Everything
- How to Lose Everything is an Indigenous series of animated short films that explore personal stories of loss. The five films’ stories span nations, languages, and perspectives on heartache.
- Ever Deadly (2023)
- Ever Deadly weaves concert footage with stunning sequences filmed on location in Nunavut, seamlessly bridging landscapes, stories, and songs with pain, anger, and triumph – all through the expressions of Tanya Tagaq, one of the most innovative musical performers of our time.
- EANGAKUSAJAUJUQ: The Shaman’s Apprentice (2022)
- A young shaman must face her first test—a trip underground to visit Kannaaluk, The One Below, who holds the answers to why a community member has become ill.
- We Were Children (2021)
- In this emotional film, the profound impact of the Canadian government’s residential school system is shown through the eyes of two children who were forced to endure unimaginable hardships.
- MI’KMA’KI (2022)
- A collection of short films about the Indigenous experience in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador.
- The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019)
- Two Indigenous women from vastly different backgrounds find their worlds colliding on an East Vancouver sidewalk when domestic violence forces one of them, a pregnant teen named Rosie (Violet Nelson), to flee her home.
- Twice Colonized
- Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has spent her life fighting for the rights of her people. When her son suddenly dies, she embarks on a journey to reclaim her language and culture after a lifetime of whitewashing and forced assimilation.
Podcasts and music
- 2 Crees in a Pod
- Brings together Jouvnas and Zakary to share their stories and work they do in the community in creating safe spaces.
- Indigenous Medicine Stories
- A collaboration between AMS Healthcare and the Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Indigenous Health and Indigenous Traditional Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University. Indigenous Medicine Stories aims to educate health professionals and the public about Indigenous healing.
- Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild
- The radio space for Indigenous voices – our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Rosanna Deerchild guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.
- Stolen Season 1 – The Search for Jermain hosted by Connie Walker
- Walker brings her crime reporting and trauma-informed approach to the case of another missing Indigenous woman, this time in Missoula, Montana.
- Stolen Season 2
- Surviving St. Michael’s: Surviving St. Michael’s, Connie Walker unearths how her family’s story fits into one of Canada’s darkest chapters: the residential school system.
- Twisted Histories – Decolonize. One word at a time hosted by Kaniehtiio Horn
- This is an 11-episode podcast series that reclaims Indigenous history by exploring 11 words whose meanings have been twisted by centuries of colonization. Host Kaniehtiio Horn guides us through conversations with over 70 Indigenous people from 11 communities whose lands now make up Quebec, New Brunswick and Labrador, as they share their words, humour and truths about concepts that impact us to this day.
- Missing and Murdered hosted by Connie Walker
- Investigative journalist Connie Walker recounts stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
- This Place hosted by Rosanna Deerchild
- Based on the acclaimed graphic novel anthology, This Place is a 10-part journey through one-hundred and fifty years of Indigenous resistance and resilience. Through dramatizations and interviews, along with your host and time-guide storyteller Rosanna Deerchild, the series reveals the heroes, battles, triumphs and traditions which live outside and beyond the national story we have been taught … to learn, to share, and to heal the future of “this place” we call Canada.
- All My Relations hosted by Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene
- This podcast explores our relationships—relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another.