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
We raise our hands to Theresa James
for providing this picture of p̓aačiidʔaaʔtx territory
PADDLING TOGETHER FOR JURISDICTION
As of February 8, 2024, SIIA is pleased to release our DRAFT Legislation to the public for your information and for community consultation. In the coming week, we will also be releasing a simpler, easier-to-read Legislation Overview document that will highlight key elements in the new Law.
The Technical Report we released in November last year further details the information contained in our DRAFT Legislation and aligns that information with the several decades of community discussions that have been had on how the South Island Nations and their Guest Communities would like to assume jurisdiction and control of their child and family services. We also have created an easier-to-read Overview document of our Technical Document.
Taking what we have been told about traditional and current ways our community cares for children, our SIIA Team has drafted these documents as our translation of that learning into a way of doing the business of assuming jurisdiction. Our intention is for both of them to open discussion in the community about the model that came out of the consultation, and to confirm or amend the model as the community sees fit.
There are many pathways to provide services to our communities. We need the communities to direct us on the preferred path as we move forward.
WHO IS SIIA
SIIA is a planning organization, supporting the South Island journey to regain jurisdiction 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.
Aunties Gathering 2022
Latest News
IT Technician Training Opportunity
SIIA is looking to build IT Capacity within our communities! See the following poster and course description for more information! CompTIA-Core-IT-Program-and-Course-OutlineDownload
Let’s Talk About Data (Part 2)
Where Are Our Relatives’ Stories? Due to the historically and present-day extractive, non-community based nature of data collection, especially about Indigenous communities and individuals, a considerable amount of First Nation data is held by non-community...
Let’s Talk About Data (part 1)
Written by SIIA's Quality Assurance Lead Since time immemorial the Nations on the South Island have collected data, and used it, to navigate the world and the relationships with their human and non-human kin within it. Admittedly, this might not be the language used...
SIIA Presentation at Camosun College For IST Class
On March 26th, Erica Pepevnak (Quality Assurance Lead) and Jenna Lancaster (Urban Community Engagement Lead) were invited to give a presentation to an Indigenous Studies class at Camosun College. The class that Erica and Jenna were invited to was an Indigenous Studies course centered around Comparative Indigenous Rights.
Multi-jurisdictional Considerations
At our recent SIIA-CIRCLE Gathering, we had the opportunity to discuss what it might look like working with our Indigenous Guest community on our territory in a multi-jurisdictional model. This means that people residing on our territory might have other laws...
The Recent SCC Decision as a Critical Step in Recognizing the Inherent Jurisdiction of SIIA’s Member Nations
In a historic move, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently delivered a monumental decision affirming the constitutional validity of Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families (“the Federal Act”). This decision has...
Guest Community Reflections from our SIIA-CIRCLE Gathering
SIIA is unique in our approach to covering the Indigenous guest community with our law. This is in line with the traditional teachings of the territory that guide Nations to be good hosts to those residing on their territory. We have found through our...