Chiefs vote for new negotiations on child welfare reforms, inclusion of N.W.T.

OTTAWA — First Nations chiefs agreed Wednesday to launch new negotiations with Canada over child welfare after voting down a $47.8 billion deal in October.

Chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations also voted to restart talks to include Northwest Territories in any new agreements at a special assembly in Ottawa. They also want the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, which helped launch the initial human rights case against Canada, back at the table.

“This process has been like a canoe that’s been upside down and backwards,” said Squamish Nation chairperson Khelsilem, who was a vocal critic of the previous deal and the negotiations that lead to its realization.

“What we’re doing is we are taking that canoe, we’re flipping it backside up, we’re turning it back in the right direction, and we’re bailing out the water so that we’re all paddling together for our children.”

The $47.8 billion was struck after decades of advocacy and litigation from First Nations and experts, seeking to redress decades of discrimination against First Nations children who were torn from their families and placed in foster care.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal said Canada’s underfunding was discriminatory because it meant kids living on reserve were given fewer services than those living off reserve.

The tribunal tasked Canada with reaching an agreement with First Nations to reform the system, and also with compensating children who were torn from their families and put in foster care.

The agreement was meant to cover 10 years of funding for First Nations to take control of their own child welfare services from the federal government, create a body to deal with complaints and set aside money for prevention, along with other items.

Chiefs and service providers critiqued the deal for months, saying it didn’t go far enough to ensure the discrimination stops. They have also blasted the federal government for what they say is its failure to consult with First Nations in negotiations.

They also said the Assembly of First Nations was attempting to sideline the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society from negotiations, and four members of the organization’s executive wrote letters to the national chief critiquing the process.

Chiefs ultimately voted against it at a special assembly dedicated to the issue in October, with the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations — whose campaign for the job focused heavily on child welfare — visibly upset it didn’t move forward.

The new mandate passed Wednesday calls for a national “umbrella agreement” along with regional agreements “that take full account of the children’s distinct circumstances, cultures and the inherent rights of the children and the First Nations they belong to.”

Those regional agreements should be funded in a manner that safeguards First Nations children, youth and families from discrimination “now and forever,” and for Canada to consult with First Nations directly instead of through the Assembly of First Nations.

The Assembly of First Nations is not a rights-holding organization, but rather a forum where 630 rights-holding chiefs across Canada can advocate for their concerns.

The federal government has a duty to consult with First Nations when its actions could affect their rights.

Chiefs in assembly also voted in favour of the Assembly of First Nations to “withdraw and apologize for any and all public statements that suggested or implied that First Nations Child and Family Service Agencies led the campaign to defeat the draft final settlement agreement.”

It adds: “Such comments are disrespectful of our front-line workers and of the chiefs who exercised their due diligence to review the text of the draft (final settlement agreement) and rejected it on that basis alone.”

In her closing remarks during the October assembly, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the organization recognized the “success of the campaign that defeated this resolution … There is no getting around the fact that this agreement was too much of a threat to the status quo, to the industry that has been built on taking First Nations children from their families.”

Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, said at the time that was an “unfortunate characterization” of chiefs who found the agreement didn’t work for them.

In October, chiefs voted for the creation of a children’s chiefs’ commission comprised of leadership from all regions in the country to negotiate a new deal and provide oversight, along with a new legal team.

A resolution moved by Khelsilem that will likely return for debate Thursday details the draft terms of reference for that commission and the negotiation team.

The resolution passed Wednesday says the assembly should support the Caring Society to lead any processes.

Another resolution called for First Nations in the Northwest Territories, who were excluded from the previous deal, to be brought in. It also calls for Canada to acknowledge and take action to address the historical impact of the child welfare system on Indigenous children in the territory.

As it passed, several chiefs stood and applauded.

Chief Toni Heron of Salt River Dene First Nation told chiefs that together, they can change lives.

“Let us commit ourselves to this cause — not only for the children of today, but for all the generations to come,” Heron said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press