By David P. Ball
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The country's foremost advocate for Indigenous youth, Cindy Blackstock, has had to spend the early days of 2021 returning to her decades-old legal battle — fighting for equal funding and services for First Nations children.

Not only is she once again seeking another compliance order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal — where she won a 2016 ruling of "discrimination" by the federal government — but on Dec. 22, Ottawa filed a federal court request to overturn the tribunal's historic ruling. In 2012, the federal Privacy Commissioner even ruled her rights had been violated by civil servants "surreptitious monitoring" of her personal social media accounts.

Blackstock is originally from British Columbia, and talked with The Pulse on CFRO about her Gitxsan nation upbringing, her mentors and inspirations, and why she believes only court orders and public opinion will turn the tide — and budge the dial — for Indigenous kids.