Race trumps Love

That's quite literally the argument being made by the Squamish First Nation of Vancouver and the Hamilton, Ontario Childrens' Aid Society, in a court hearing to determine whether two young native girls will be adopted by their foster parents. The foster parents have really been the only parents these little girls have ever known. They're also white, which is why the Squamish - and, inexplicably, the CAS - are saying they should be snatched away:

The youngsters, who can't be identified, are the daughters of a native woman and a white man.

They have spent most of their lives in two separate foster homes where, as all parties to the court action appear to agree, despite their difficult starts in life, they have flourished in those loving and stable families.

Both families want to adopt the girls and are supported by the office of the Ontario Children's Lawyer.

But the foster parents are white, and Ian Mang, the lawyer who represents the Squamish Nation of Vancouver, said yesterday the little girls' ties to their native roots are more important "than attachment to caregivers or transient expressions of affection."

Sitting in court, wincing at the cavalier description, were both foster parents of the older girl and the foster father of the younger.

Mr. Mang acknowledged that tearing the youngsters from the only real families they have ever known may cause "some problems," but said, in effect, that a bit of short-term pain is better than a long-term identity crisis that would have the children returning to the band as "messed-up adults at the age of 18."

The Squamish Nation, in a move supported by the Hamilton Children's Aid Society, proposes a curious plan to move the little girls not to the actual Squamish reserve, but near it, and not to live with a relative or even another native woman, but rather with a single white woman of 52 who is a regular paid foster parent for the band and now cares for the girls' brother.
[...]
Ms. Bellinger, and lawyers for the two foster families, Yolanta Lewis and Jeffery Wilson, made much of the fact that the band, despite repeated notices from the CAS, reacted only at the eleventh hour to stake a claim to the youngsters.

But David Feliciant, the lawyer for the Hamilton CAS, said the case is not about any unfair treatment accorded the foster families, or about the band flexing any political muscle. Nor, Mr. Feliciant added, is the case about love.

"It is naïve to suggest that love conquers all," he snapped. "It doesn't."

David Janes has more. If you want to know why I'm so cynical about "official multiculturalism", this case is a good place to start.

Posted by damian at May 27, 2004 11:16 AM