Judge to determine the future of a $23 billion compensation fund for First Nations child welfare.

This week, the Federal Court will consider the approval of a $23 billion compensation package aimed at addressing the historic racial discrimination faced by First Nations children and families due to the chronic underfunding of on-reserve foster care services and family support by the Canadian government.

If the proposed settlement is given the green light, it would represent the largest compensation agreement in Canada’s history. However, it is uncertain whether it will bring an end to a 16-year legal battle.

Included in the proposed settlement is a request for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue a public apology. Nevertheless, not all parties involved in the compensation case believe this apology can be made at this stage.

Cindy Blackstock, the advocate for First Nations children who initiated the fight for federal compensation back in 2007, has expressed that while the compensation deserves approval, the government cannot issue a meaningful apology as long as it continues to discriminate against First Nations children and families.

“We need to avoid performative apologies,” stated Blackstock, who serves as the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.

“We need to make sure that this time the words have meaning, and that meaning is changed behaviour.”

In a letter dated October 12, the AFN called upon the Prime Minister to take steps to prevent any ongoing discrimination. The AFN also implored Trudeau to promptly issue a public apology within the House of Commons, addressing all First Nations children, families, and communities who have suffered due to Canada’s discriminatory actions.

“We ask that you, as prime minister, now apologize to our people on behalf of the Government of Canada,” Interim National Chief Joanna Bernard wrote in the letter, obtained by CBC News.

The AFN’s letter cites a 2016 decision by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) which concluded that the government engaged for decades in discrimination based on race, contrary to the Canadian Human Rights Act, by underfunding First Nations child and family services.

 

Beyond the $23 billion allocated for compensation, an extra $20 billion has been earmarked for the enduring transformation of on-reserve child welfare and family services. The government has emphasized that this transformation should be guided by First Nations leadership.

“We have a duty to ensure this never happens again,” wrote Zeus Eden, press secretary to Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu.

“We remain at the negotiating table and are committed to finding an acceptable resolution, so that every child in this country can have a fair chance to succeed.”

The policy is named in memory of Jordan River Anderson from the Norway House Cree Nation, who tragically passed away in 2005 at the tender age of five during a prolonged two-year dispute between Manitoba and Ottawa over the responsibility for covering his care expenses.

Jordan’s Principle dictates that in cases where federal and provincial governments cannot agree on which level of government should be accountable for providing healthcare or educational services to First Nations children, the priority is to ensure immediate assistance to the child, with financial matters to be resolved afterward.

The government is obligated to address Jordan’s Principle requests within a time frame of 12 to 48 hours, a commitment that Blackstock claims Ottawa is falling short of meeting.

Provincial offices within Indigenous Services Canada are grappling with substantial backlogs of numerous Jordan’s Principle requests, and as reported by CBC News, healthcare professionals serving First Nations children often face untimely payment issues, as documented in the submission by the Caring Society to the CHRT on October 10th.

“There’s some significant logistical problems that could be quickly remedied by the federal government if it just simply acknowledged that these were problems and fixed them,” Blackstock said.

The CHRT has scheduled a case conference to address Blackstock’s concerns in the upcoming month.

“We can try to get some measure of justice for those who have already been hurt while we continue to put the pressure on the government to not repeat the behaviour that has cost children their childhoods, sometimes their lives,” Blackstock said.