Welcome to Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! This week, lawyer Kyla Lee discusses whether Indigenous children should be adopted into a family that best supports his or her Indigenous culture, or into a family that appears could best provide for the child’s needs.
Acumen Law Corporation lawyer Kyla Lee gives her take on a made-in-Canada court case each week, and discusses why these cases should have been heard by Canada’s highest court: the Supreme Court of Canada.
If a child is supposed to be adopted into a family that is in the best interest of the child, and the judge is meant to determine what is in the best interest of that child, what takes priority when the child is Indigenous? Should the child go to a family that can best support and provide for the child, or one that has an Indigenous connection to the community the child is from?
In T.B and M.M., the British Columbia courts were faced with such an issue. It was questioned whether being able to provide for a child’s needs is more important than keeping the child connected to the Indigenous community in which they are from. Studies have shown that by removing a child from their Indigenous communities, it then contributed to later criminal behaviour. By connecting someone to their Indigenous community and background, isn’t that in their best interest?
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court declined to answer any of these questions, and many feel that this only perpetuates the issues regarding the protection of Indigenous children.
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