Residential schools systematically undermined Aboriginal culture across Canada and disrupted families for generations, severing the ties through which Aboriginal culture is taught and sustained, and contributing to a general loss of language and culture. Because they were removed from their families, many students grew up without experiencing a nurturing family life and without the knowledge and skills to raise their own families. The devastating effects of the residential schools are far-reaching and continue to have significant impact on Aboriginal communities. Because the government's and the churches’ intent was to eradicate all aspects of Aboriginal culture in these young people and interrupt its transmission from one generation to the next, the residential school system is commonly considered a form of cultural genocide.

This transition to provincial services led to a 1951 Indian Act amendment that enabled the Province to provide services to Aboriginal people where none existed federally. Child protection was one of these areas. In 1951, twenty-nine Aboriginal children were in provincial care in British Columbia; by 1964, that number was 1,466. Aboriginal children, who had comprised only 1 percent of all children in care, came to make up just over 34 percent.

The native people of Manitoba have charged that the interpretation of the term “best interest of the child” has been wrought with cultural bias in a system dominated by white, middle class workers, board of directors, administrators, lawyers and judges. They also alleged that in application of the legislation, there are many factors which are crucially important to the native people which have been ignored, misinterpreted, or simply not recognized by the child welfare system.〔