Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance

First Nations children in Canada are 17 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be removed from their families, a pattern linked to discriminatory services and the multigenerational effects of residential schools. Using national survey data, two studies found that First Nations youth with a parent who attended residential school were more likely not to live with their biological parents. First Nations and Métis adults with a family history of residential schools were also more likely to have been in child welfare care. Both residential school history and family separation independently predicted greater distress and depressive symptoms, which supports First Nations-led interventions to address inequities in the removal of Indigenous children from their families.