Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, will share her expertise in child welfare and Indigenous rights during the John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture on March 4 at York University’s Glendon Campus.
The lecture is in English and is free to attend.
Blackstock, a member of the Gitxsan First Nation and professor at McGill University’s School of Social Work, has published more than 75 articles on topics relating to reconciliation, Indigenous theory, First Nations child welfare and human rights.
Cindy Blackstock
Previously, she worked with First Nations colleagues on a successful human rights challenge to Canada’s inequitable provision of child and family services and failure to implement Jordan’s Principle. This hard-fought litigation has resulted in hundreds of thousands of services being provided to First Nations children, youth and families.
Blackstock recently served on the Pan American Health Commission on Health Equity and Inequity and believes that culturally based equity is fundamental to meaningful reconciliation. She is frequently sighted in the company of the Caring Society’s reconciliation Am-bear-rister, Spirit Bear, engaging children in meaningful actions to implement the TRC Calls to Action.
The lecture runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room A100, Centre of Excellence, Glendon Campus.
The annual John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture at Glendon honours the late John W. Holmes, officer of the Order of Canada, Canadian diplomat, writer, administrator and professor of international relations at Glendon from 1971-81. Holmes was a tireless promoter of Canada at home and abroad, in political, diplomatic and educational circles. He also participated in the founding of the United Nations and attended its first General Assembly in 1945.
For more information on Holmes, visit this website; for more on the upcoming lecture, visit the event page.
To register for the event, visit the RSVP link.