Sask. First Nation launches Bill C-92 consultations in Vancouver while demanding justice for Noelle O’Soup

Photo of Noelle O'Soup released by Coquitlam RCMP in May 2021. (RCMP handout)

A Saskatchewan First Nation is taking the first steps towards self-governing child and family services within its own community, while demanding justice for one of its young members who died while in the care of B.C.’s government.

The Key First Nation says it chose Vancouver as the place to launch consultations Tuesday over Bill C-92 —federal legislation that re-affirms the rights of Indigenous communities to establish and provide their own child-welfare services—in honour of Noelle O’Soup.

The body of 14-year-old O’Soup was discovered in a rooming house at Hastings Street and Heatley Avenue in May 2022, nearly a year after she went missing from a group home while under the care of B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development.

“The community remains outraged at the circumstances surrounding Noelle’s death and the inaction of MCFD, the B.C. Coroner’s Office, Coquitlam RCMP and VPD,” the Key First Nation wrote in a statement, which was issued ahead of a news conference in Vancouver at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Chief Clinton Key and Councillor Solomon Reece-Brass of the Key First Nation attended the event, and are among the community members who penned an open letter to Premier David Eby on Monday.

“We have grave concerns about your government’s inaction on Noelle’s disappearance and death and we call on you, your ministers, law enforcement and other agencies to take immediate action to bring meaningful closure,” reads the letter.

One of the major concerns the Key First Nation is hoping to bring attention to is gaps in Bill 38, which B.C. passed last November, affirming inherent Indigenous jurisdiction over child and family services provincially.

“Where the province has been short-sighted is they have no provisions or protocols to address the needs of nations like ours that are outside of British Columbia,” Reece-Brass told reporters Tuesday morning.