The Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance

The lives of Indigenous women3 have been disproportionately impacted by the ongoing effects of colonization, and especially, of settler-colonial family structures that dismantle important family support networks for Indigenous women. An egregious and controversial example of this experience is the removal of Indigenous children. The removals serve to sever Tribal connections, and create trauma for Indigenous mothers, further marginalizing Indigenous women.

 This thesis—focused on the impact removing Indigenous babies has on Indigenous mothers in a comparative, international Indigenous context—offers an opportunity to recognize removing Indigenous children as part of a wider gender issue for Indigenous women indicative of settler colonialism. This paper transposes the narrative from the effect removing children has on children, to the effect it has on mothers. Given the mental health effect it has on mothers, this paper argues ways to change legal systems to mitigate the impact. The aim for this thesis is to contribute to the abolition of child welfare systems as we know them.