March 2023
February 2023
Honouring The 2023 Indigenous Spirit Awards
The Indigenous Spirit Fund at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto is excited to announce that nominations are now open for the Honouring The Indigenous Spirit Awards! Established to honour Indigenous children and youth who’ve shown resilience and spirit in their efforts to break down barriers and achieve their full potential, this year’s Awards Ceremony will take place on March 30, 2023.
Any child, youth, or young adult up to 29 years of age currently receiving any service from an Indigenous agency in the Greater Toronto Area is eligible for nomination. They must be nominated by a staff member of the agency.
Deadline for Nomination: February 14, 2023
For more information, click HERE or email [email protected]
January 2023
Miigwetch RATE-MY-AGENT & Snap Up Real Estate for your donation
We greatly appreciate RATE-MY-AGENT and Snap Up Real Estate’s donation to our Native Youth Resource Centre (NYRC) Drop-in program located in Toronto’s west end. This program engages Indigenous youth who come to access services at the NYRC and this donation will contribute towards the underfunded Youth Drop-In and Outreach program activities which focusses on providing Indigenous youth with the skills, mentorship, and training they need to find and maintain housing and achieve their full potential.
December 2022
October 2022
Thank you Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund!
We extend our deepest gratitude for your support of our “After Hours Mental Health and Crisis Support Telephone Service” at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. Your funding has played a pivotal role in developing a vital service, allowing us to respond promptly to urgent community needs, especially during the challenging times of the pandemic.
Operating on weekdays from 5 pm to 12 am and on weekends/holidays from 9 am to 12 am, this telephone service provides immediate access to culture-based, trauma-informed mental health and crisis supports. Using the Medicine Wheel Model of service delivery, we address the spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental aspects of individuals in relation to self, family, and community.
Our dedicated staff, work diligently to de-escalate crisis situations and offer brief mental health services. Beyond crisis intervention, the service provides immediate referrals to our extensive range of in-house social services. These services encompass traditional Indigenous healing, housing support, diverse mental health and addictions services, family/domestic/intimate partner violence support programs, and anti-human trafficking programs.
We want to acknowledge and appreciate the transformative impact your support has had on the well-being of our community, allowing us to continue to provide Child Centered, Family Focused, and Community Driven services.
Miigwech | Kinanâskomitin | Thank You,
Media inquiries:
Freida Gladue (she/her)
Manager of Communications
Cell: 437-244-2816
National Day for Truth & Reconciliation: Calls to Action Webinar – Recording
On Friday, September 30th, 2022 Native Child and Family Services of Toronto hosted a webinar and simultaneously released an annual report back to community addressing the priorities for redesigning child welfare to help reduce the number of Indigenous children in care. Listen to our recorded webinar as our special guests join in a conversation around the importance of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and the Truth and Reconciliation’s Calls to Action.
Joined by our host Bob Goulais, Knowledge Carrier, Alita Suave, Singer and Language Instructor, Rollin Baldhead and the following special guests:
- Hon. Chystia Freeland, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
- Hon. Merrilee Fullerton. Ontario’s Minister of Children, Community and Social Services
- John Tory, Mayor of Toronto
- Mae Maracle, NCFST Board President
- Jama Maxie, Former Youth in Care
- Jeffrey Schiffer, NCFST Executive Director
- Ron Hodson, NCFST Director of People and Culture
- Melissa Hamonic, Associate Director of Holistic Services
- Jennifer Turner, NCFST Manager of Child and Family Wellbeing
Download the Indigenous Child Welfare Reform Annual Report to Community
* Our apologies, the audio fades in and out through parts of the webinar.*
Indigenous Child Welfare Reform Annual Report to Community
On Canada’s first NDTR, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (NCFST) announced its commitment and dedication to decolonize Indigenous child welfare services in the city of Toronto. Over this past year, NCFST went through a critical examination of our child and family wellbeing services, including standards, service eligibility criteria, assessment tools, and current practices. This report addresses priorities for redesigning child welfare with the intent to help reduce the number of Indigenous children in care.
Many thanks to community who participated and help us every day in our continuous efforts to heal and find a better way forward.
Annual Report to Community
As part of our annual report back to community for 2022, our Quality Assurance and Decolonization team has prepared a separate report on the activities, reform and discussion ideas provided by both the Community Advisory Circle and various Staff consultation processes, including the Staff Advisory Group.
Transformation in Action at NCTST Report
August 2022
Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series #6 – Recording
Webinar #6 of our Decolonizing Child Welfare Learning Series focused on the services we offer when vulnerable children must be removed from unsafe circumstances and placed in alternative care. In this webinar, we addressed some of the most crucial questions arising from the experience of Indigenous children and families with colonial child welfare systems.
- How do we meet the holistic needs of children and youth placed in care? What are the dimensions that guide us?
- How do we work alongside the Alternative caregivers to guide them, in helping our children and youth who are placed in their homes?
- How do we work to keep children connected with culture, family and community while they are in care?
- How do we work to keep children to family, extended family and community and culture?
We were joined by our host Terri Jaffe, and the following panelists:
- Rosary Spence, Cultural Resource Worker
- Jeffrey Schiffer, Executive Director
- Courtney Dorion, Children’s Services Supervisor
- Jama Maxie, Community Member
- Mark Atanasoff, Director of Quality Assurance & Decolonization
Click to access the presentation file
Below is the recorded webinar available for viewing.
June 2022
2021-2022 NCFST Annual Report
Native Child and Family Services of Toronto is pleased to release our 2021-2022 Annual Report. We would like to express our deep gratitude to our partners, funders, and community members for supporting us through this past year of uncertainty, growth, and development. Please read the detailed report on the progress our agency has made during such a challenging year.
In addition to our Annual Report, we have also released our Audited Financial Statements for 2021-2022.
This year’s Annual Report and Financial Statements, as well as previous Annual Reports and Financial Statements, are also available on our Policies and Publications page.
