The clock is ticking for First Nations and the federal government to agree upon the terms of a $47.8-billion child welfare agreement, as a change in Ottawa appears likely if the Liberal minority government is toppled.
At a gathering in Ottawa on Wednesday leaders at the Assembly of First Nations voted to launch new negotiations with Canada on the specifics of the multi-billion-dollar funding agreement designed to ensure long-term reform of the child welfare system and compensate those who have been discriminated against. The Dec. 4 vote at the Special Chiefs Assembly represents a shift to work out an agreement with the federal government, after in October AFN chiefs voted down a deal proposed by Canada.
Valued at nearly $48 billion over the next 10 years, the child welfare agreement aims to amend historical discrimination against Indigenous children in the foster care system. It is the result of years of litigation that began in 2007, with a claim made by the First Nations Child Family Caring Society and the AFN to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Among the complaints was the contention that federal funding for child welfare on reserve was 22 per cent lower than what was provided off reserve by provinces.
The tribunal ended up ruling that Canada was discriminatory in its historical funding and child welfare policies – a disparity that could have contributed to the vast overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in the foster system. Just 7.7 per cent of children in Canada are Indigenous, but they account for 53.8 per cent of those in foster care, according to census data from 2021. In British Columbia 34 per cent of children in care are Indigenous - showing a steady decline from the 64 per cent reported in 2002.
Although AFN chiefs have voted to renegotiate a deal with Canada, issues with the last proposed agreement show considerable work is needed, according to Cheryl Casimer, who serves on the political executive of the First Nations Summit. Casimer presented the current state of the proposed reform to representatives at the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Annual General Meeting on Nov. 26.
The proposal neglected to specify regional governance in child welfare reform, noted Casimer.
“So, all these decisions were going to be made on child welfare and the reform of child welfare without regional representation,” she told the Nuu-chah-nulth leaders. “British Columbia needs to have a seat at the table, and we need to be decision makers in how this agreement is implemented.”
In recent years the federal government has worked with the AFN to change the direction of child welfare services for Indigenous people. This includes legislation passed in 2020 that “affirms the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to exercise jurisdiction over child and family services.”
But language in the agreement that was put before the AFN this year doesn’t live up to this pledge, said Casimer.
“We, as First Nations, in the agreement were listed as service providers,” she noted. “That in itself rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, because as title and rights holders and as leaders we’re not service providers; we need to make sure that our jurisdiction and our authorities are fully respected.”
There are also proposed changes to how developments would be funded.
“Capital projects would no longer be funded at cost, and that was a directive of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal back in 2021,” said Casimer. “The discontinuation of at-cost funding for projects would have detrimental impacts on First Nations and our agencies.”
The agreement sets out changes for 10 years, bringing concerns of what could happen afterwards. But the current political situation in Ottawa is precarious, with the Liberals struggling to retain a minority government after the NDP tore up the Supply and Confidence Agreement between the parties on Sept. 4. Now a non-confidence vote from enough opposition parties could bring about an early federal election, which is set to occur no later than Oct. 20, 2025.
Currently the Conservatives are projected by the polls to win a convincing majority, with Pierre Poilievre standing with a 42 per cent popularity rating – 19 points ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Before the vote in October AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak urged other chiefs to back Canada’s offer, fearing that time was running out for the Liberal government. She questioned if a better deal would be possible under the Conservatives.
When that offer was rejected, Ontario chiefs began to talking to Canada on their own.
“We were also advised that Ontario is approaching Canada and saying, basically, pardon my language, ‘Screw everybody else, we want to negotiate our own agreement with you’,” said Casimer.
Hesquiaht Chief Councillor Mariah Charleson cautioned about the federal government dividing First Nations. She said this was demonstrated in the Ahousaht et al. case, which resulted in the Supreme Court of B.C. upholding the rights of five Nuu-chah-nulth nations to commercially catch and sell fish from their territories.
“As First Nations people, I’m sure that we are aware of Canada’s tactics to break us apart,” said Charleson. “We saw that in the Nuu-chah-nulth fishing case, where we started out strong with 14 nations and Canada broke us down to five nations, who ended up winning in the Supreme Court. But it is a historical tactic that Canada uses to divide our people.”
Despite these concerns, the $47.8 billion commitment represents an undeniably significant investment to amend the historical mismanagement of child welfare services for First Nations.
“This can be a big part of the solution to fix residential school impacts – us rebuilding our families, helping and loving our children,” said Nuchatlaht Councillor Archie Little. “It’s huge.”
