Information from Alberta’s Ministry of Children and Family Services shows 89 per cent of young people who died while receiving child intervention services in 2024 were Indigenous. Between April 1 and Aug. 31, 18 children, youth, and young adults died while receiving intervention services in Alberta. Among those, sixteen were Indigenous.
Of those who passed, eight were in care, eight were receiving post-intervention support, and two were not currently in care.
Almost all the deaths are still under investigation with the cause of death listed as pending in the report from Children and Family Services (CFS). One death is listed as accidental, and two died by suicide.
First Nations children are 17 times more likely to be removed from the family home and put in the child welfare system than non-Indigenous youth in Canada, that information coming from a 2019 Canadian Incidence Study on Reported Child Abuse and Neglect.
In its 2023 year-end report, The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate (OCYA) assessed the status of 31 recommendations it had made to government to improve services and support for young people. At that time, four were evaluated as met, two were closed, and the remainder were in “various levels of progress.”
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