Skye’s Legacy

Every child needs to have deep connections and to feel a sense of belonging to culture, community, family and place in order to thrive and develop a positive sense of self. Children and youth who are in government care, in particular, need to feel these connections as they have typically experienced trauma during their young lives. Without these connections, they may experience what Dr. Martin Brokenleg has referred to as “unbelonging”. And as a consequence, they may experience pain, sadness, distress, risk and poorer life outcomes.

In June 2021, RCY released an investigative report entitled Skye’s Legacy: A Focus on Belonging. This was a pivotal report for our Office, in particular because it changed our understanding of how the system might best help young people, particularly First Nations, Métis, Inuit and Urban Indigenous children and youth who are in government care and often dealing with the effects of intergenerational trauma. We chose to investigate Skye’s life because it reflected the stories of many First Nations, Métis, Inuit and Urban Indigenous children that RCY sees in its day-to-day advocacy and reviews and investigations work.

Skye was a bright, young First Nations girl who died of an accidental drug poisoning on her 17th birthday. She was a child who was full of hope, potential and somebody who “bubbled with energy” and our report concluded that her life could have taken a much different path had she been provided with the sense of belonging that she needed. Instead, Skye was placed in government care at the age of five and never saw her mother again, lived in a series of foster homes, endured three failed adoption plans and multiple moves between placements and communities, and wasn’t provided with opportunities to meaningfully connect with her extended family or her Dene culture.

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Skye’s story illustrates what can happen when children and youth aren’t provided with the opportunity to belong – to feel connection to people, place, culture and a positive sense of self. A narrow focus on trying to ensure that Skye was adopted (to achieve legal permanency) came at the expense of all other aspects of her belonging. Researching and telling her story convinced us that we need to think differently about the system’s main responsibility to every child in care – the need to create and nurture belonging. Skye’s story convinced us that belonging should be the lens through which all decisions are made and all actions are taken in planning and caring for a child.