The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council welcomes today’s decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on the complaint First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al. v. Attorney General of Canada (for the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada).
After the efforts of many, over too many years, the Tribunal has found—unreservedly—that Canada has knowingly and willingly discriminated against First Nations children and families on reserve and has perpetuated historical disadvantages against them.
The Tribunal found what we have known all along, that First Nations people on reserve have been adversely differentiated and/or denied services because of their race, and that Canada has underfunded child welfare programs on reserve by as much as 38 per cent.
Now that the Tribunal has called on Canada to do the right thing and end its ongoing discriminatory practises against children in care, the government must act immediately to ensure that the deficit in First Nations programs and services for children is eliminated, with considerations that recognize the remoteness of our communities and the scarcity of resources.
And what we need right now—immediately—is funding for prevention services that has been promised to B.C. First Nations— yet denied since 2007. "We must keep more of our children out of care and support families to remain together," said NTC President Debra Foxcroft.
The Tribunal found that Aboriginal Affairs, under their First Nations Child and Family Services Program, perpetrated the removal of children from their families. The government must immediately work with First Nations to address the over-representation of First Nations children in care by supporting our programs to significantly decrease those numbers in on-reserve child welfare. There must be a Nation-to-Nation process to redesign First Nations child and family services.
The Tribunal found that Directive 20-1—the same directive that the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Usma child and family services program has operated under since 1987 —ignores the real child welfare situation in many First Nations’ communities on reserves and underfunds First Nations service providers. An overhaul of the operational funding, unchanged since 1987, is decades overdue.
“Despite a struggling economy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to realize that children are worth going into debt over. We need to invest in our future, so that our children have the same opportunities as others across the country," said NTC Vice-President Ken Watts.
Canada’s government has underfunded a wide range of services intended for First Nations people living at home on reserve, which substantially contributes to the inability of families to remain together. NTC calls on the Trudeau Government to work with First Nations leadership on holistic solutions to those inequities, including in the areas of education, housing and poverty.
NTC believes the need to file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is a travesty in itself. Governments should listen, hear and work in good faith with First Nations to address issues of First Nations concern, and not repeatedly force First Nations into expensive decision-making forums. That this case had to be taken to tribunal should be seen as an embarrassment and failure in Government/First Nations relations. The previous Harper Government’s obstruction tactics over many years to quash this Tribunal is a case in point, and has aggravated this embarrassment and failure. In this new era of reconciliation and open, transparent dialogue, we should never be forced to such an extreme undertaking again. There were plenty of opportunities to remedy First Nations concerns, before going to a tribunal such as this.
This process took too long, and at considerable cost and personal sacrifice to many, including the Assembly of First Nations, and particularly, Cindy Blackstock of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. NTC thanks Cindy and her team, and congratulates them for their courage and perseverance.
“I am so proud and honored to know Cindy, and have had the opportunity to work with her in the very beginning days of child and family services in B.C.,” said Foxcroft. “You are my hero; a strong and courageous warrior woman who has never wavered from your values and principles, or from doing the right thing for all our children and youth. We hold up our hands to you today and every day. Kleco kleco.”
In conclusion, Foxcroft says “We all have a responsibility to ensure that our children are safe, protected, have culturally-appropriate services, remain connected to their communities and families and be successful.”
