NDP motion calls for feds to meet child-welfare obligations

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This article was published 25/10/2016 (2737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The NDP intends to force the federal government to put its votes where its promises are for First Nations children Thursday.

The House of Commons will debate a motion introduced by NDP indigenous affairs critic Charlie Angus calling on Ottawa to immediately invest $155 million more for child-welfare programs on reserves to fulfil the orders made earlier this year by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take for the government to recognize they have to stop discriminating against children,” Angus said in an interview with the Free Press.

In January, the tribunal ruled Canada has been discriminating against First Nations children for years by providing much less funding for child-welfare programs for indigenous kids on reserves. Kids receiving help from provincial programs received much better access to services and programs to help their families without forcing them into foster care, the tribunal ruled.

In a legally binding decision, the tribunal ordered Ottawa to fix the program and ensure it’s comparable to services provided to children off-reserve by provincial governments.

The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, the main complainant behind the human rights case, estimates it will take $155 million this year alone to bring the program up to par. The federal budget added $71 million to the child-welfare budget this year, part of $8.4 billion in investments for First Nations over the next five years. It is a substantial investment, but much of the funding is in the final two years of the promise, including some not scheduled to be spent until after the next election. 

The NDP motion also calls on the Liberal government to fulfil its promise on Jordan’s Principle, which the tribunal also said Ottawa must do. The principle is named after a Manitoba boy who died in hospital while the federal and provincial governments fought about who was responsible for paying for his care once he left the hospital.

The motion says the government at the front of a child’s case must pay and later sort out with the other level of government who is ultimately responsible.

Angus said the government is still fighting against too many families in court who are asking for help for their kids. One case in Alberta, where two doctors have said a child needs dental surgery or she will stop being able to eat, has seen the government spend three times as much on legal fees fighting against funding the surgery as it would have to pay for the surgery in the first place.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday wouldn’t commit to supporting the motion Wednesday, when asked about it by NDP Leader Tom Mulcair during question period.

‘I don’t know what it’s going to take for the government to recognize they have to stop discriminating against children’– NDP indigenous affairs critic Charlie Angus 

“Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadian governments over the past years and, indeed, generations have failed indigenous people with not giving them the respect, the tools or the support needed to be able to be successful,” he said. “We know that is something that is going to take time to turn around. It is why we are investing a historic $8.4 billion over the next five years to begin to fix these terrible wrongs.”

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca