Cindy Blackstock

Early Life and Education

Cindy Blackstock’s mother was non-Indigenous and her father was Gitxsan. Blackstock is a member of the Gitxsan First Nation. Her father was with the forest service and the family moved often because of his work.

Blackstock grew up knowing the sting of anti-Indigenous racism. She learned how stereotypes too often shaped the way many Indigenous kids thought about themselves and their prospects. She became determined to forge a positive future for herself and saw education as the key to pursuing that goal. (See also Racial Segregation of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)

Upon graduating high school, Blackstock earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of British Columbia. She later earned a master’s degree in management at McGill University and a master’s degree in jurisprudence in children’s law and policy at Chicago’s Loyola University. Blackstock also holds a PhD in social work from the University of Toronto.

Blackstock became a child protection worker. In her career, she learned that at the root of issues facing many Indigenous children were addictions, trauma and poverty. She also learned that government regulations often resulted in on-reserve families not having equal access to social services.

First Nations Child and Family Caring Society

In 1999, Blackstock co-founded and became the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. The national, non-profit organization is often called the Caring Society. It conducts research, advocates for change with the federal and provincial governments, and offers support for agencies caring for Indigenous children, families and communities.

In 2007, the Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations filed suit against the federal government with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. They argued that the federal government’s policies and funding practices discriminated against Indigenous children based on race. Thirty days after the suit was filed, the federal government withdrew its financial support for the Caring Society.

The Caring Society’s suit was based partly on the Jordan’s Principle. Jordan River Anderson was from the Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba. He was born with life-threatening medical needs. For three years, the federal and Manitoba governments argued about which government would pay for his homecare. Jordan died in 2005, at age five, in a hospital awaiting the governments’ decision. In a legal action that followed, the court established Jordan’s Principle. Children’s needs must be addressed first, and which level of government will pay must be settled later.

The Caring Society adopted the teddy bear as a symbol of Jordan’s fight and the struggle of all Indigenous children for safety and hope. The mascot was named Spirit Bear. At key moments in the long legal fight with the federal government, Blackstock would appear with Spirit Bear at a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing or at Parliament Hill with a large group of children holding their teddy bears. She explained, “The law is not naturally just. Injustices like residential schools were lawful in their time. True justice only comes when the law is linked with love and compassion and that is what children, and their teddy bears, bring.”

On 26 January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favour of the Caring Society. It stated that the federal government’s chronic underfunding of Indigenous child services was an act of discrimination. The federal government was ordered to rectify its funding to ensure equality of services and prove that it applies the Jordan’s Principle in all cases. It was also ordered to compensate those who had been hurt. The government reacted slowly in implementing its responsibilities. Blackstock said discrimination was continuing despite the tribunal ruling.

On 4 July 2022, in the largest settlement in Canadian history, the federal government signed a $20 billion compensation agreement. However, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rejected this compensation agreement, citing concerns that some claimants would not be eligible for compensation. In October 2023, a federal judge approved a $23.34 billion compensation agreement. In addition to this compensation agreement, the federal government has allocated $20 billion for reforms to on-reserve child welfare and family services to remove discrimination.

Other Work and Advocacy

Cindy Blackstock cooperated in the making of a 2016 film about her role in the Caring Society’s case called We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice. She has written children’s books, including Spirit Bear: Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams; Spirit Bear: Echoes Of The Past: Based On A True Story; Spirit Bear and Children Make History: Based on a True Story; and Spirit Bear: Fishing for Knowledge, Catching Dreams: Based on a True Story. She wrote the forward for Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism Against Indigenous Children in Canada by Samir Shaheen-Hussain. This is a book that examined systemic anti-Indigenous racism in the Canadian health care system. She has written over 75 articles dealing with Indigenous child welfare and human rights.

In addition to her work in child welfare, Blackstock has been an advocate for Indigenous rights in general. She has spoken out about issues affecting Indigenous populations, including residential schools, intergenerational trauma, the legacy of the Sixties Scoop, racism in Canada, justice, reconciliation, and the rights of Indigenous women, children and families.

Blackstock is a professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work in Montreal. She served on the Pan American Health Organization’s Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities and has been asked to consult with the United Nations. Blackstock is a popular speaker who addresses Indigenous child welfare issues and the importance of meaningful reconciliation.

Awards and Honours

Cindy Blackstock has been recognized for her work with many awards and doctors of letters from universities. She was listed as one of Maclean’s magazine’s 50 most influential Canadians in 2021. Blackstock was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.