Six Nations Chief applauds landmark ruling on child welfare funding gap

Six Nations Chief Ava Hill is applauding a landmark human rights decision which she says will better the lives of 163,000 children living in First Nations communities.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that Ottawa’s provision of First Nations child services is inequitable and has ordered a remedy to “cease the discriminatory practice and take measures to prevent it.”

The tribunal has also included a call to redesign child welf are services on-reserve, and its funding model, to further ensure that First Nations children and families are receiving the “culturally appropriate” services needed.

“At long last, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has made the right decision,” Hill said Tuesday, shortly after the decision was discussed at a press conference in Ottawa featuring Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett. “First Nations children rightfully deserve the same care and treatment as every other child in Canada.”

It will take, however, a lot more than just lip service from the federal government to put right the years of systemic discrimination and underfunding endured by First Nations children, an emotional group of indigenous advocates said as their nine-year battle with Ottawa culminated in the landmark ruling.

Money — specifically, at least $200 million more a year in child welfare funding in order to close the fiscal gap — would be a good first start, said Cindy Blackstock, the social worker whose tireless crusade is at the heart of the ruling. Hill, head of the elected-band council, also called for Ottawa to remedy other areas of “inequity” such as education, health and housing.

“Why did we have to bring the government of Canada to court to get them to treat First Nations children fairly — little kids?” Blackstock asked during the emotional news conference not far from Parliament Hill. “Why would it ever be OK to give a child less than other children?”

The long-awaited ruling from the tribunal found children in First Nations communities have long suffered adverse effects as a result of the way federal services are delivered on reserve. In some cases, government involvement has meant some children have been unfairly denied benefits.

The federal government failed to provide the same level of child welfare services that the provinces provided off-reserve, the tribunal noted. As a result, countless First Nations children have ended up in foster care, away from their families.

“By analogy, it is like adding support pillars to a house that has a weak foundation in an attempt to straighten and support the house,” the tribunal said.

“At some point, the foundation needs to be fixed or, ultimately, the house will f all down.”

Race and ethnic origin have also been factors, perpetuating the historical disadvantage and trauma suffered by Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples as a result of the residential school system, the tribunal concluded.

Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, brought the original 2007 complaint to the tribunal, along with the Assembly of First Nations.

Federal funding for child welf are is between 22 and 38.5 per cent less than what has typically been provided at the provincial level, she added.

The government will review the lengthy decision, but it’s unlikely there will be any cause to seek judicial review of the ruling, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said Tuesday. Wilson-Raybould and Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett stopped short of providing a dollar figure on how much the government is willing to provide to address the disparity.

“We know we are going to have to significantly increase the dollars that are available for child welfare programs,” Bennett acknowledged.