ITUM signs Quebec’s first Indigenous child welfare accord

By Lucas-Matthew Marsh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Iori:wase The Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam (ITUM) is the first Indigenous nation in Quebec to sign a tripartite agreement with the federal and provincial governments regarding Indigenous children in the child welfare system. At a press conference in Quebec City last week, Jonathan Shetush St-Onge, Chief of the Innu Nation of Uashat mak Mani-utenam, stressed that the agreement represents more than “an administrative reform.” “It is an affirmation of who we are, a self-determination finally respected,” St-Onge said. “It is a …