ONTARIO—Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the Caring Society, told APTN News January 14 that she has filed a motion with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) to force Canada back to the table to negotiate with First Nations outside of Ontario on a deal to reform the on-reserve child welfare system for First Nations outside Ontario.
“Chiefs have said they want to negotiate, but they want to negotiate in a way that they have representation at the table. And that’s a fair argument,” Ms. Blackstock said. “And in my view, Canada’s not doing either. They’re not listening to First Nations rights holders and they are not negotiating in good faith.”
The CHRT had, in 2016, ordered the federal government to renew the child welfare system after it had ruled that Canada had discriminated against on reserve First Nation children in care by chronically underfunding services, compared to other children. The agreement was for $47.8 billion over 10 years.
However, the agreement was rejected by a majority of chiefs at an Assembly of First Nations Special Assembly, twice.
Ms. Blackstock said the filing of the motion before the CHRT should not impact the negotiations with Ontario but calls for the federal government to be at the table with the rest of the First Nations across Canada to either include them or negotiate separately.
Earlier this month, the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) and Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and the federal government announced the continuation of the work in Ontario as partners for transformative change on the long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. COO and NAN supported and ratified the reforms set out in the final agreement on the long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program, reached in July 2024. Other jurisdictions had rejected the funding model.
The two Ontario First Nation chiefs’ groups have stated that they don’t have to consult with other groups in the country on negotiating a new child welfare reform deal with the federal government, as a Page 1 story in the January 15 edition of The Expositor explained, breaking with Indigenous groups in the rest of Canada regarding funding child welfare.
Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict of the COO and Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the NAN said in a joint response last Thursday, “We as COO and NAN are engaging in productive and positive discussions with Canada on moving towards a reformed system for our children and families. We have been mandated by our chiefs, who have the right to make their own informed decisions about their children, and child and family services, without being required to consult with other parties on these decisions.”
“This agreement seeks to shift control and authority over child and family services funding from child welfare agencies to First Nations where it rightfully belongs. While we are disappointed that the Caring Society (First Nations Child and Family Caring Society) has brought a motion claiming that Canada must consult with them about our regional agreement, we will not allow this to derail our process and distract us from the work that needs to be done,” the joint COO-NAN release notes. “The Caring Society has opposed this agreement from day one, and we do not want their latest procedural interruption to disrupt our progress towards a regional agreement they have already deemed to be ‘deeply flawed.’”
“Our chiefs have rejected the status quo and given us a strong mandate to reach an agreement to reform what continues to operate as a broken system for our children and families. We expect that the jurisdiction and authority of our chiefs as rights holders will be respected throughout any process and ask outside parties to respectfully allow us to move forward, as is our right, and we have been mandated by our leadership,” the joint statement reads.
