The federal government has signed a $20-billion final settlement agreement to compensate First Nations children and families harmed by chronic underfunding of child welfare on reserve, which Indigenous Services Canada said Monday was the largest such deal in Canadian history.
“First Nations children deserve to be surrounded by love and live free of discriminatory government policy,” Cindy Woodhouse, the Manitoba regional chief at the Assembly of First Nations, said in a statement Monday.
“And after three decades of advocacy and months of negotiations, I’m proud to say on behalf the AFN that we have reached another historic milestone for our children and their families.”
The agreement, reached between Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and plaintiffs in two class-action lawsuits, also accounts for the federal government’s narrow definition of Jordan’s Principle. It was designed to ensure jurisdictional squabbles over paying for services for First Nations kids does not get in the way of those services being provided.
“The parties have agreed on a plan for settling compensation claims to recognize the families and people who have suffered tremendously through discriminatory and systemically racist child-welfare practices,” Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said in an interview.
The federal government announced in January it had reached agreements in principle, which includes $20 billion for compensation and another $20 billion to reform the First Nations child-welfare system over five years. The full $40 billion was earmarked in the 2021 fiscal update.
The First Nations Children and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations first filed a complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act in 2007, arguing chronic underfunding of on-reserve child-welfare services was discriminatory when compared to services provided by provincial governments to children in other communities.
Ottawa pays for child welfare on reserve, but only matches the provincial spending if kids are placed in foster care. The result is far more child apprehensions and family breakups than necessary, and fewer services and supports to help families manage through a crisis.
Data from the 2016 census shows fewer than eight per cent of Canadian children under the age of 15 are Indigenous, but Indigenous youth make up more than half the children under 15 in foster care.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in 2016 that the federal government had discriminated against First Nations children. The Liberal government appealed that ruling, asking a court to quash it. The court declined.
In 2019, the tribunal ordered the government to pay the maximum compensation it could order -$40,000 – to every child who was needlessly removed from their families since Jan. 1, 2006, and also to parents or grandparents whose children were taken away.
The tribunal also ruled that the criteria needed to be expanded so more First Nations children could be eligible for Jordan’s Principle.
The federal government also challenged the tribunal’s orders in Federal Court, and last fall appealed the ruling upholding it.
But that appeal was paused pending negotiations with Indigenous leaders on the compensation program. Former senator Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was hired to help facilitate the talks.
The agreement has now finally been signed by all parties and filed with the Federal Court. Both the court and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal will need to approve the settlement before any money is handed out.
Hajdu said she’s not able to say when people will be able to apply for and receive compensation, but the AFN said it expects that to happen next year.
The other $20 billion intended for long-term reforms includes funding over five years for the First Nations Child and Family Services program.
Hajdu said that negotiation is more complex, and requires the creation of “built-in mechanisms to ensure that children get equal and adequate care, and increasingly, that Indigenous communities have the tools they need to seize that control of that care themselves.”
Those reforms will largely occur under Bill C-92, passed in June 2019, which affirms the jurisdiction for child-welfare services in Indigenous communities rests with the Indigenous families and communities themselves.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2022.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
