First Nations children who have been removed from their homes since the 1990s, along with their parents or guardians, will collectively receive $ 20 billion under an agreement with the federal government that also provides another $ 20 billion in funding. long-term Aboriginal children’s services.
“This is the largest agreement in Canadian history,” Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller announced on Tuesday.
The $ 40 billion agreement in principle between Ottawa and several Indigenous groups, including the Assembly of First Nations, puts an end to several disputes between First Nations and the government that have been in court for the past five years. A first human rights complaint dates back 14 years ago.
So far, the federal government has challenged in court the terms of a judgment rendered in 2019 that awarded $ 40,000 in compensation for children separated from their families. The government now recognizes that this amount of 40,000 dollars is “a minimum” to be paid to former children placed in foster care under discriminatory rules.
Hundreds of thousands of them, or their relatives, will be able to receive compensation once the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and the Federal Court have approved a final version of the agreement. Minister Miller hopes this will be done later this year.
Long term financing
In addition to offering $ 20 billion in compensation to those harmed by the underfunding of federal services for First Nations children, an additional $ 20 billion will also be used to finance long-term reform of the program.
For example, funds will be invested to help young First Nations adults who leave the child welfare system as early as April 2022.
The Trudeau government passed its Bill C-92 in 2019, which provides for giving Indigenous peoples who so desire their own youth protection policy. However, provinces like Quebec are challenging the constitutionality of federal law in court.
“It doesn’t help. Being in court with a province doesn’t help. […] I hate going to court with any institution, be it a provincial government or others, on the backs of aboriginal people. It bothers me, and it should upset all Canadians, ”commented Minister Miller, recalling that it is the provinces that continue to place a disproportionate number of Aboriginal children in foster care.
About half of the children in the care of children’s services nationwide are indigenous, even though they make up only 7% of the population. Various indigenous speakers present at the press conference described a system of child protection that discriminates against them, which favors the placement of children in foster care rather than preventing the causes of problems, such as poverty.