"New Chief Tackles Child Welfare"

VANCOUVER (CP) - The new chief of the Assembly of First Nations says he will place aboriginal child welfare at the top of his priority list.

Healing generations of native people who attended residential schools is critical, Ovide Mercredi told the first national conference on residential schools Thursday.

The healing must also extend to today's children, he said.

"I am not blind to the fact the churches and government have responsibility to our people to make sure resources are available to individuals and our community on our self-directed quest for recovery," said Mercredi, a Cree lawyer from Grand Rapids, Man.

"Our children still feel the impact of residential schools today.

"All Indian communities should have the opportunity to get control of their child welfare system - outside agencies cannot help our children.

"Our people did not learn parenting skills at residential schools and the result was the massive removal of Indian children," he said.

Now there is a need for repatriation of Indian kids taken to U.S. and Europe."

Mercredi said he has a list of topics "as long as your arm" to raise at his first meeting with Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon next Wednesday.

He said he wants swift action from Siddon on compensation related to the schools.

If Siddon stalls, Mercredi said a private member's bill will be introduced by aboriginal Liberal MP Ethel Blondin.

He also wants the new Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs to look at compensation for natives who attended the 80 residential schools in Canada.

The schools were run by churches for the federal government. The last one closed in 1980.

The government's stated goal was to use the schools to prepare natives for the labor force and to eradicate native culture and religion through Christianity.

Revelations of sexual, emotional and physical abuse at the schools have rocked the church and the native community, which is using traditional methods and psychotherapy to recover from shame, and the loss of culture and parenting skills.

The churches have obligations to improve and apologize, Mercredi said.

"Healing and recovery is not just our responsibility - the churches also have to recover," he said.