An Indigenous group is glad to see the end of a practice they say targets Indigenous mothers.
The province has ordered children’s aid societies to stop issuing what are called “birth alerts” this October.
They alert a hospital when authorities suspect a newborn may need help or be at risk.
The Ontario Native Women’s Association says the alerts were harmful because they were unequally used against Indigenous mothers, who shouldn’t have been separated from their children.
The group says Indigenous women have complained for years that the practice is discriminatory and puts their children into foster care unnecessarily.
The province says that instead, they will create a new approach that improves healthcare around pregnancy and delivery, and encourages children’s aid societies to cooperate with Indigenous partners and service providers.
