Our People of the South Island First Nations have never relinquished our inherent jurisdiction and responsibility for our Children and Families.
We have our own laws and traditional ways of caring for our Children.
Who Is SIIA?
SIIA is a planning organization supporting the south island’s journey to regain jusrisdiction over child and family services
The Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families allows our communities to control and govern our child and family services, and to create our own Indigenous law to replace the current law created by the government of British Columbia. SIIA is working to develop our own Indigenous Child and Family law and to design a way of delivering services that are grounded in the values, traditions, and cultures of the South Island. We are doing research and talking to people in our communities, making sure the law and our services are based on our own culture and needs. This work will create a better path forward for this generation, and for future generations. The new law will allow our communities to develop a child and family services system that is governed by our people, for our people.
Paddling Together for Jurisdiction
Updated October 2025
We recognize the sacred responsibility of drafting a law that reflects the values, teachings, and priorities of our Nations. This work is grounded in our commitment to our children, families, and future generations.
Law-making is inherently an iterative process. Since beginning this journey, our team has prepared multiple drafts of our law, continually returning to our communities and leadership for direction and feedback. We shared our first draft in February 2024, and our second draft in December 2024. While we had hoped the second draft would be our final version, we once again heard clearly from our communities: more work was needed. We will be sharing our third draft in the Fall of 2025.
In addition to community feedback, we also faced challenges from both provincial and federal governments—particularly around the sections of our law that speak to our responsibilities for caring for guests on our territories. In response, we revised these sections to ensure they are workable while staying true to the guidance we’ve received from our leadership. Our laws and teachings tell us: we care for those on in our territories.
Our draft law is rooted in the traditional and contemporary practices of the South Island Nations. It gives life to the legal principles that have guided and supported our communities since time immemorial.
To help our community members better understand this work, we also released a companion document in January 2025 called, Paddling Together for Jurisdiction: Continuing Our Journey. This report outlines the key differences between our draft law and existing colonial laws and highlights the potential impact our law could have on the day-to-day lives of our community members.
Click below to read our Draft Law and Companion Report
Final Draft SIIA Law 7.2
December 2024
Continuing Our Journey:
A Community Technical Document
January 2025
Aunties Gathering 2022
Latest News
Do you have any questions or comments?
Please reach out!
