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
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.
PADDLING TOGETHER FOR JURISDICTION
As of August 2024, SIIA is pleased to share an updated version of our DRAFT Legislation with the public. This revision incorporates valuable feedback and suggestions gathered during community engagement sessions since the initial release of our draft law on February 8, 2024.
By the end of this summer, SIIA will release an updated Legislation Overview document that highlights key elements of the new law and a list of all substantive changes made since the first draft. In addition, a new Technical Report will be published to detail the specific ways in which SIIA’s new law will impact the lives of community members.
Our draft legislation is grounded in the traditional and current practices of the South Island communities in caring for their children and families. Throughout the Spring and Summer of 2024, we engaged in an iterative, community-led process to review and refine our law based on community input. The input from community members reaffirmed some aspects of our law and necessitated significant revisions to other elements of our proposed model.
The most recent version of the legislation remains in draft form, and we welcome continued community input in the coming months.
Aunties Gathering 2022
Latest News
SĆ’IȺNEW (Beecher Bay) Update
SIIA remains committed to meaningful consultation and collaboration with Sci'anew First Nation as we work on the development of our draft legislation. On May 25, 2023, SIIA hosted a community barbeque on Sutiacum Road, where we shared...