(Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the
Child Welfare System
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 as the leading cause of child welfare (dis)placements.
Dir. Melisa Brittain, 42:00 minutes, 2017, English - Closed Captioned
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 as the leading cause of child welfare (dis)placements.
Dir. Melisa Brittain, 42:00 minutes, 2017, English - Closed Captioned
Sales, Rentals & Previews
Order from V tape Online: http://www.vtape.org/video?vi=8693 Email: [email protected] V tape offers a range of rental and purchase options for different organizations, including single screening rentals, DVDs and educational streaming licenses. *If your request is time sensitive, please indicate this on V tape's order form or in the subject line of your email. Or, better yet, call 416 351-1317 to reach V tape staff. V tape offers reduced rates for community groups, high schools and public libraries. *All profits from sales go to non-profit organizations serving Indigenous youth. To Preview (Dis)placed: Previews are available to those considering purchasing. Email [email protected] to request an online preview. You can also contact V tape, our distributor, to request a preview: [email protected] Filmmaking processThis film was shot and edited over two years in collaboration with peer researchers involved in the project “Uncovering Colonial Legacies: Voices of Indigenous Youth in Child Welfare (dis)Placements.” The aim of the video is similar to the research project: to highlight the voices of Indigenous youth as they tell their stories and critically reflect on their experiences with the system.
Interviewees guided the direction of the film by providing feedback on edited versions of their own interviews, and by joining others who were part of the original research project, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, in giving feedback on two rough cuts. Upcoming Screenings*To have your Upcoming Screening listed here, please email [email protected] with date, time and location.
Past Screenings(Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System - Film Screening and Learning Guide Launch
Nov 24, 2020 This free webinar features a screening of the film, presentation of the Learning Guide for Professionals Working with Children and Youth, and a panel discussion with Cindy Blackstock, Julie Mann-Johnson, Bernadette Iahtail and Michelle Briegel. *Webinar minus the film is still available her for viewing here: www.casw-acts.ca/en/webinar/displaced-indigenous-youth-and-child-welfare-system-film-screening-and-learning-guide-launch Indigenous Thought: Indigenous Social Work Conference May 2, 2019 University nuhelot’ine thaiyots’i nistameyimâkanak, Blue Quills St. Paul, Alberta Storytellers Film Festival April 20, 2019, 3:00pm Kikiwak Inn, Constant Room Highway 10 North, Opaskwayak, MB Free Admission www.facebook.com/StoryTellersFilmFest/ Teaching Guide Launch and Film Screening March 13, 2019, 5-6:30 University of Alberta, Edmonton Room 122, Education South, University of Alberta, 11210-87 Ave NW, Edmonton *sponsored by FNCARES and Office of the Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta Red Deer Justice Film Festival January 26, 2019 RDC's Welikoklad Event Centre, Red Deer Alberta Marda Loop Justice Film Festival Saturday, November 17, 2018 @ 1:45 pm River Park Church Auditorium 3818 14a St SW, Calgary, AB T2T 3Y2 Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society Feb 23, 2018, 6:00 - 8:00 pm 442 Leon Ave., Kelowna, BC Screening followed by youth panel CGCER International Conference 2017, University of Alberta Oct 26, 2017, 7: 00 -8:30 pm *Featured panelists Jesse Downing, Donovan Waskahat, Derek Chewka and Melisa Brittain, with spoken word by Donovan Waskahat Mount Royal University, Calgary May 7, 2017, 1:30 - 3:30 *Featured Panel Discussion with Charlotte Yellowhorn McLeod, Floranda Kootenay, Tyler Blackface, Del Majore and Linda Nothing, with opening and closing prayers and remarks by Elder Clarence Wolf Leg. MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB
March 23, 2017, 12:30 - 2:00 pm Featured Panel discussion with Rick Lightning, Jo-Mary Crowchild-Fletcher, and Derek Chewka. Calgary Launch
November 27, 2016, 4pm, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta Featured panel discussion with Cindy Blackstock and youth from the film Edmonton Launch
November 13, 2016 3:30 pm, Metro Cinema, Edmonton Alberta Featured panel discussion with youth from the film To have a your past screening listed here, please email [email protected] with date, time and location. |
Teaching & Learning GuidesThe free Teaching Guide for Grades 9-12 is designed to accompany the film, and provides teachers and students with crucial background information on the connections between Canada's colonial history, especially residential schools, and the ongoing structural inequities experienced by First Nations children and youth that often lead to involvement with the child welfare system. Designed for grades 9-12, the guide can be easily adapted for a general adult audience.
The free Learning Guide for Professionals is designed to accompany the film and provides crucial background information, activities and discussion questions in four main areas: the connections between Canada's colonial history and the ongoing inequities that lead to the alarmingly high numbers of Indigenous children in the child welfare system; the importance of cultural continuity for Indigenous child well-being; the practice of moral courage in child welfare settings; and how to take action towards social justice for Indigenous children in solidarity with Indigenous communities. The guide is ideal for running professional workshops or can be adapted for less formal group or individual learning experiences.
CreditsFeaturing: Tia Ledesma, Tyler Blackface, Donovan Waskahat, Brianna Olson, Cindy Blackstock
Director: Melisa Brittain Producers: Melisa Brittain, Daniela Navia Co-Producers: Rita Henderson, Cindy Blackstock Cameras: Melisa Brittain, Rita Henderson, Deloria Many Grey Horses, Alanna Chelmick Editor: Melisa Brittain Editing Consultants: Tia Ledesma, Tyler Blackface, Donovan Waskahat, Daniela Navia, Brianna Olson, Cindy Blackstock, Rita Henderson, Deloria Many Grey Horses, Martha Many Grey Horses, LJ Fischer, Evelyn Hamdon, Leslie Colson |
Sponsors
KingCrip Productions is an independent activist video collective that draws largely on its own resources and talent to make films that require very little revenue.
We are grateful to the sponsors who stepped up at different stages to help us complete this film: FNCARES; Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta; Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network; Voices Against Violence.
We are grateful to the sponsors who stepped up at different stages to help us complete this film: FNCARES; Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta; Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network; Voices Against Violence.
Media coverage
Film looks at connections between child welfare and residential schools - APTN National News, May 9, 2017
Indigenous youth share stories of displacement in child welfare system - Metro News, Calgary, November 28, 2016
Indigenous youth share stories of displacement in child welfare system - Metro News, Calgary, November 28, 2016
All royalties from the film are donated to non-profit organizations serving
First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children and youth.
Total Donations as of August 28, 2025 = $17,275
Royalties from the film have been donated to the following organizations.
Please support them!
Spirit North connects Indigenous youth to sport, play, the outdoors and the land. Through these connections, they empower children to learn, grow, thrive and eventually contribute to the health, strength and vibrancy of their communities.
A7G - Assembly of Seven Generations is an Indigenous owned and youth-led non-profit organization focused on cultural support and empowerment programs/policies for Indigenous youth while being led by traditional knowledge and Elder guidance.
Creating Hope Society of Alberta is a non-profit organization devoted to ending the cycle of Indigenous children being removed from their families and communities.
OUTpost: LGBTQ2S+ Youth Support Centre by CHEW (Community Health Empowerment and Wellness Project) OUTpost helps young people in Edmonton access resources and supports surrounding mental health, substance use, survival sex, homelessness, and meeting basic needs (e.g., clean drinking water, food, clothing, bathing). Donate to OUTpost
Kii ga do waak Grandmothers Council The Grandmothers Council includes women from First Nations communities along the north shore of Lake Huron. The Council recognizes the human dignity and promotes the well being of all trafficked persons.
iHuman Youth Society - Edmonton, Alberta - Supporting traumatized and marginalized youth to find housing, get mental health & addiction support, and build on their creative strenghts as artists
Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) - Calgary, Alberta - Nurturing self-empowerment & providing programming in education, traditional languages, and arts based programs
Native Youth Sexual Health Network - Working across issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights & justice in Canada & U.S.
We Matter - National forum shares video messages of hope and positivity to Indigenous youth going through a hard time.
Aboriginal Youth Opportunities - A youth movement from Winnipeg's North End, this group is led by young people volunteering and sharing their gifts with others. They listen to the ideas of young people, plan them, and love them until they become reality.
Miskanawah is guided by Indigenous teachings and offers evidence-informed, supportive services to people in the Calgary area as they strengthen their circles of self, family, community, and culture.
Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society - Located in Edmonton, Alberta, Bent Arrow's mission is to "build on the strengths of Aboriginal children, youth, and their families to enable them to develop spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally so they can walk proudly in both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.”
Food for Thought provides nourishment for hungry children in 15 Edmonton schools. They continue to deliver food to families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
A7G - Assembly of Seven Generations is an Indigenous owned and youth-led non-profit organization focused on cultural support and empowerment programs/policies for Indigenous youth while being led by traditional knowledge and Elder guidance.
Creating Hope Society of Alberta is a non-profit organization devoted to ending the cycle of Indigenous children being removed from their families and communities.
OUTpost: LGBTQ2S+ Youth Support Centre by CHEW (Community Health Empowerment and Wellness Project) OUTpost helps young people in Edmonton access resources and supports surrounding mental health, substance use, survival sex, homelessness, and meeting basic needs (e.g., clean drinking water, food, clothing, bathing). Donate to OUTpost
Kii ga do waak Grandmothers Council The Grandmothers Council includes women from First Nations communities along the north shore of Lake Huron. The Council recognizes the human dignity and promotes the well being of all trafficked persons.
iHuman Youth Society - Edmonton, Alberta - Supporting traumatized and marginalized youth to find housing, get mental health & addiction support, and build on their creative strenghts as artists
Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) - Calgary, Alberta - Nurturing self-empowerment & providing programming in education, traditional languages, and arts based programs
Native Youth Sexual Health Network - Working across issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights & justice in Canada & U.S.
We Matter - National forum shares video messages of hope and positivity to Indigenous youth going through a hard time.
Aboriginal Youth Opportunities - A youth movement from Winnipeg's North End, this group is led by young people volunteering and sharing their gifts with others. They listen to the ideas of young people, plan them, and love them until they become reality.
Miskanawah is guided by Indigenous teachings and offers evidence-informed, supportive services to people in the Calgary area as they strengthen their circles of self, family, community, and culture.
Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society - Located in Edmonton, Alberta, Bent Arrow's mission is to "build on the strengths of Aboriginal children, youth, and their families to enable them to develop spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally so they can walk proudly in both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.”
Food for Thought provides nourishment for hungry children in 15 Edmonton schools. They continue to deliver food to families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photos from Screenings
MacEwan University Screening and Panel discussion, March 23, 2017, Edmonton, Alberta
Top Row: Metro Cinema screening and panel discussion, November 13, 2016, Edmonton, Alberta
Bottom Row: Screening and Panel discussion at Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, November 27, 2016
Bottom Row: Screening and Panel discussion at Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, November 27, 2016
Posters from screenings
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