Government social services are 'significant agent' of colonialism, N.L. inquiry hears

Public art adorns a water tower in Sheshatshiu, N.L., May 10, 2023. A public inquiry into the treatment and experiences of Innu children in care in Newfoundland and Labrador resumed in Sheshatshiu on April 7, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN’S — A social worker with a secretariat for Innu First Nations in Labrador told a public inquiry today that government social services have undermined and harmed Innu families.

Lyla Andrew, with the Innu Round Table Secretariat, says she began her career in the late 1970s in the community of Sheshatshiu, with the common and incorrect belief that she had something to give that the Innu did not have.

She testified that she soon realized she was wrong, and that the system was not set up to properly serve Innu communities.

The inquiry into the treatment and experiences of Innu children in care in Newfoundland and Labrador resumed today and attendees heard that Andrew wrote a report in 1992 calling for Innu-led family and children’s services.

Andrew’s report described the government’s social services programs as a “significant agent” of the colonial relationship between Innu and the provincial government, and she says its recommendations went unheeded.

The inquiry began in 2023, and hearings are scheduled to run all week.

The Canadian Press