Wind Whisper HQ
They shut the doors to the residential schools... but they didn’t stop taking our children.
They just found a new way to do it
A System Rebranded...Not Reformed
When Canada’s residential schools began to close, many Canadians thought the worst was over. But for Indigenous families, especially First Nations, the system simply changed its name.
Children’s Aid Societies and provincial child welfare agencies stepped in where residential schools left off. Today, they call it “protection.” They say it’s in “the best interests of the child.” But for our communities, it still feels like removal. It still feels like control. It still feels like grief.
Survivors Became Parents...But Without Support
Residential school survivors carried home invisible scars, the kind no one wanted to talk about. They were taught to fear love, distrust family, and disconnect from their culture. When these survivors became parents, they weren’t offered help, healing, or resources. They were judged for being “unfit.”
And so the system preyed on their pain. It punished them for not knowing what they were never allowed to learn.
The Numbers Tell the Truth
In every province and territory, First Nations people make up a small portion of the population but a massive portion of children in care. The first graph below shows this clearly.
The darker colour represents the percent of the population that is First Nations. The light colour represents the percentage of Child Welfare cases involving First Nations Children.
From Foster Homes to Jail Cells
The trauma of being removed from family, land, and culture, doesn't end in childhood. It echoes forward. Many children who grow up in care end up in the justice system. The second graph shows how overrepresented First Nations people are in Canada's jails and correctional institutions.
The darker colour represents the percent of the population that is First Nations. The light colour represents the percentage of incarcerations involving First Nations.
We Were Never Broken, We Were Broken By Design
The system wants us to believe that these numbers are our fault. That we are inherently bad parents. That we are criminals. But this is the lie colonialism built.
We weren’t broken people.We were broken by a system.And now that same system punishes us for the cracks it left behind.
But This Is Not The End of the Story
Our communities are strong. Survivors are speaking. Families are fighting back. Culture is being reclaimed. Healing is happening...because We are making it happen.
But healing alone isn’t enough.
We need truth. We need change.
And we need everyone, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to understand what’s really going on.
Instead of mental health care, we got case workers.
Instead of parenting programs, we got court orders.
Instead of clean water, housing, or jobs — we got removed.
The system that caused the trauma blamed us for its effects.
And it still does.
What You Can Do
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Learn the truth. Share it.
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Listen to survivors. Believe them.
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Support Indigenous-led services. Real care comes from within the community.
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Challenge the system. Every voice counts.
We were never broken people.
We were broken by a system.And now we’re healing, with TRUTH as our medicine.
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