FNCARES Publications

FNCARES develops resources to educate about the structural drivers of disadvantage and encourage discussion and actions that promote culturally-based equity and justice for First Nations children and youth. 

Mind Control and Colonization Information Sheets

  • Mind Control and Colonization: Part 1 - Propaganda, Mind Control, and Undue Influence in Colonial Canada
     
  • Mind Control and Colonization: Part 2 – Understanding Colonial Mind Control Patterns using the BITE Model & Influence Continuum
     
  • Mind Control and Colonization: Part 3 – Strategies for Overcoming Mind Control

(Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System - Learning Guide for Professionals Working With Children and Youth (2020)

by Melisa Brittain and Sarah Auger, with help from Kayla Das

This new learning guide is designed to accompany our documentary film (Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System, which features the voices of Indigenous youth reflecting on their prior involvement with the child welfare system and on their multiple strategies of resistance to assimilation and state control. 

Designed especially for those working in the child welfare system and other allied professions involved in providing services to Indigenous children and youth impacted by the system, it is ideal for running workshops for professionals. It can also be adapted for less formal group or individual learning.

The guide is divided into four themed sections that provide crucial background information in the following areas:

  • the connections between Canada’s colonial history and the ongoing inequities and discrimination that have led 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;

  • taking action towards social justice for Indigenous children in solidarity with Indigenous communities.

 

Each of the four themed sections of the learning guide include suggested activities and discussion questions, and the references and additional resources sections provide learners with links to hundreds of sources to help them more easily expand their knowledge beyond the content of the film and the learning guide.

(Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System - Teaching Guide, Grades 9-12 (2019)

by Sarah Auger and Melisa Brittain

This teaching guide for grades 9-12 is designed to accompany the documentary film (Dis)placed: Indigenous Youth and the Child Welfare System. The 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. The guide provides teachers with necessary background information on the connections between Canada's colonial history, especially residential schools, and the ongoing inequities experienced by First Nations children and youth. Questions and activities structured around four themed lessons will help students understand these connections, as well as the following: the role of family, community, and culture in identity formation and belonging; how art, storytelling, and the revival of cultural practices can be powerful sites of learning, resistance, and healing; and how they can exercise their citizenship responsibilities by taking action in an ongoing social justice movement that addresses the root causes of ongoing discrimination.

First Nations Child Poverty: A Literature Review and Analysis (2015)

by Melisa Brittain and Cindy Blackstock 

This five-chapter literature review and analysis examines existing research on First Nations child poverty contextualized within the historical and contemporary manifestations of colonialism in Canada. 

Information sheets on First Nations Child Poverty: A Literature Review and Analysis:

Structural Risk Factors Concept Map (2013)

This concept map outlines structural risk factors affecting poor outcomes for First Nations children and youth.