Government announces $40-billion settlement over Indigenous child-welfare system | National Post
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Half of the settlement is going towards children and families placed in foster care, and the other half to improve services in Indigenous communities
Author of the article: Ryan Tumilty Publishing date: Jan 04, 2022 • January 4, 2022 • 3 minute read • 479 Comments A woman holds an eagle feather as she listens to speakers during National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremonies on Parliament hill, Thursday, September 30, 2021 in OttawaPhoto by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
OTTAWA — The federal government has reached a $40-billion settlement with First Nations groups over the systemic underfunding of child welfare services that led to Indigenous children being removed from their families.
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Half of the money will going toward compensating an estimated 200,000 children who were either taken from their homes or denied medical services over the past three decades.
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The other half of the settlement will attempt to address the chronic underfunding of the system, with $20 billion over five years earmarked to improve services in Indigenous communities so children will no longer be removed from their homes.
Indigenous Crown Relations Minister Marc MIller said at a press conference Tuesday the money doesn't reverse the damage, but is an acknowledgement that successive governments have failed Indigenous children.
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"This is the largest settlement in Canadian history, but no amount of money can reverse the harms experienced by First Nations children," he said. "Historic injustices require historic reparations."
The settlement was reached after a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal awarded $40,000 to children who had been removed from their families through the Indigenous child welfare system.
The government initially appealed the ruling, arguing that the tribunal was operating beyond its mandate and that a one-size fits all approach, treating children the same if they were separated from their family for a night or for a decade, was unfair.
After losing an appeal late last year, the government opted to enter formal negotiations rather than take the tribunal's decision to the Supreme Court. The negotiations ended on New Year's Eve.
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The settlement also addresses class-action lawsuits brought against the government for failing to adhere to a concept called Jordan's Principle.
The principle says provincial and federal officials should cover the cost for medical services for Indigenous children upfront and decide who is responsible for paying afterwards. It is named after Jordan River Anderson, a Manitoba boy who died after spending two years in hospital, because provincial and federal authorities could not agree on who should pay for his care at home.
Lawyers involved in the class-action suits estimate that 115,000 children, most of whom are now adults, were apprehended under the child welfare system and another 100,000, at least, were denied services because the government didn't follow Jordan's Principle
Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse said the system was slanted toward removing kids from their families as the first resort instead of the last resort as it is in the non-Indigenous system.
"Every day for decades, First Nations have been ripped from their families and communities and many denied medical service and other supports," she said. "First Nations child welfare agencies would not receive funding unless the child was removed from their home and placed into foster care."
The compensation agreement covers people either removed from their homes or who did not receive adequate services between 1991 and 2007. The final details of how people will be compensated has not been set, but that process is expected to be completed by the end of March with the possibility of the first cheques going out as soon as April.
The Human Rights Tribunal can award a maximum of $40,000. Indigenous Relations Minister Patty Hajdu said she expects $40,000 will be the minimum people receive if they are eligible.
The settlement is much larger than what the government paid residential school survivors. Total compensation for that agreement reached $3.2 billion, but covered roughly 30,000 people. The average individual payout was just over $100,000.
Miller said the government is committed to reconciliation with Indigenous people and this is the cost.
"You can want reconciliation all you want, but it ain't free," Miller said. "There's a cost to it, but it's an important one. And in this case, it's an important step towards some sort of equality."
He highlighted the additional $20 billion to fix the system so another generation of Indigenous children isn't traumatized.
Hajdu said the new system will focus as much as possible on prevention, ensuring struggling families have the resources they need rather than removing children from their home.
"Poverty cannot be a reason that a child cannot stay with their family."
Woodhouse said she is hopeful the government is prepared to work with Indigenous communities and won't be imposing a solution on them.
"The solutions on many of these issues are right in our communities, with our elders, with our people, with our youth, with our leadership and with our people in our communities."
Twitter: RyanTumilty
Email: rtumilty@postmedia.c
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Trolling, taunting, and off topic comments may be removed at the discretion of group mods. NT members that vote up their own comments or continue to disrupt the conversation risk having all of their comments deleted. please remember to quote the person(s) to whom you are replying to preserve continuity of this seed.
A long a difficult case has finally reached the end of the road. The destruction of the First Nations children has been verified and hopefully from now on the Canadian government will honor their word.
I am happy that my nation is doing this, but not proud of it for why it had to be done or that it even fought against its necessity. Now, what is the USA doing for similar reasons?
Like Canada, there are two that are responsible. The US government and the Christian churches.
The investigations are just getting started in the US. I posted an article on what the Churches are doing or talking about. Not impressed with any of their BS.
Here is the link to that article.
hopefully this will bankrupt some organized religions, or at least redirect their assets into the hands of those they have harmed instead of the pockets of politicians.
This isn’t going to affect the churches there is a different lawsuit involved in that.
No amount of money can fix a broken heart, a broken family.
Hopefully though, the money can be used to go forward with renewed energy and ambition.
Agreed, Steve.
Interesting. Thank you for informing us of what is really going on out there. "Every Child Matters." I like that!
Your welcome, CB..
$40 billion is some money that can make a difference! There are some First Nation people whose lives are about to change.
Yes it will and hopefully the Canadian government will honor their agreements in the future.
Glad to hear this. Hope the USA follows suit
I hope so as well but I’m not hopeful that it will ever happen.
Important stories abound. I, for one, enjoy hearing about solutions to problems! Happier 2022 to these families and individuals. And Canada thanks for holding 'yourself' accountable.