4 in 5 people who died last year while receiving child welfare in Alberta were Indigenous

Advocates and researchers are calling for the Alberta government to decolonize the child welfare system after a record number of children, youth and young adults died last year — about four-in-five of whom were Indigenous.

Provincial data shows 49 people died while receiving child intervention services in fiscal 2021-22 — the most in a year according to publicly available data. It is an increase of 15 deaths from the previous year.

Thirty-nine of those who died were Indigenous — the most since at least 2008-09, and an increase of 16 deaths from the previous year.

"[The deaths] may be surprising to people who are not Indigenous," said Audra Foggin, a Sixties Scoop survivor and a Mount Royal University assistant professor of child studies and social work. She is a member of Frog Lake First Nation.

"[Cultural genocide and assimilation] is very real today. The continuation of the Sixties Scoop, of Indian Residential School, is still happening today."

The figures released by Alberta Children's Services include children and youth in families who are being assessed to determine if intervention is required; those remaining at home while their family receives services to resolve matters of concern; those placed in care, such as kinship or foster homes; and young adults who aged out of the system and are receiving support and financial assistance to transition into adulthood.

The data includes a breakdown of how many of the people who died were Indigenous and non-Indigenous, as well as how they died. The figures do not show who was First Nation, Métis, or Inuit.

The manners of death for most who died last year are still pending review from Alberta's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, but the deaths of six of Indigenous people have so far been labelled accidental.

Four other people's deaths were not investigated by the OCME, suggesting those people may have been receiving medical care and an attending physician determined they died of natural causes.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated people's mental health and addictions — particularly those addicted to opioids — and strained and isolated individuals and families, all of which likely contributed to more children, youth and young adults dying in general, advocates and experts told CBC News.

"We haven't seen numbers like this in the time we've been doing reviews," said Terri Pelton, Alberta's new child and youth advocate, in an interview with CBC News. Pelton replaces former child advocate Del Graff who retired in March after 11 years in the position.

"The pandemic has to be the linchpin."

In April, Alberta Children's Services released a report that detailed the findings of a review into the spike in child welfare deaths last year. It did not focus specifically on the deaths of Indigenous people, but the report did note a correlation between the pandemic and more deaths.

The Office of the Child Youth Advocate will be releasing a report in the coming months that further explores the impact of the pandemic, Pelton said.