Ottawa asks provinces to help reform child welfare

National talks will address First Nation service delivery

OTTAWA— The federal Liberals attempted Thursday to fend off criticism of their response to a landmark human rights tribunal decision by announcing talks about First Nations child welfare.

A special representative will lead national discussions on the reform of First Nations child welfare services, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said before the start of a Commons debate on an NDP motion about the delivery of care on reserves.

Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux — a Lakehead University professor — will advise the government as it works with provinces, territories and child welfare agencies on an overhaul of the system, Bennett said.

“Our job now is to engage with the provinces and territories to change the way the services are delivered,” Bennett said outside the Commons.

There are more children in care today than at the height of residential schools, she added.

“That has to stop, and that will only stop by engaging with the provinces and territories and the agencies that deliver those services, and we are . . . therefore committed to do that.”

Late Monday, the Manitoba legislature passed a motion condemning the federal government for its response to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling.

“I say that Manitoba’s got to sit down with us and fix the system,” Bennett said Thursday in response.

Last January, the tribunal found that the federal government discriminates against First Nations children in its delivery of childwelfare services. The NDP motion, which will face a vote on Tuesday, calls for an immediate $155million investment, then a funding plan for future years.