The federal government has once again appealed a decision requiring it to compensate First Nations children for the discrimination they have suffered in Canada’s child welfare system, but negotiations could prevent the case from ending up back in court.
In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found Ottawa discriminated against First Nations children by knowingly underfunding child and family services for those living on reserve, resulting in thousands of children being taken from their families into the care of the state.
Cindy Blackstock, is the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, the organization that launched the complaint against Canada along with the Assembly of First Nations. While she’s willing to meet the feds at the table, she says she is not willing to compromise and accept less compensation than what was ordered.
“What we’re interested in doing is stopping the discrimination that’s still ongoing, so that there aren’t more victims and more compensation. We want this to be the last time that Canada discriminates and hurts First Nations children.”
Here is our response to the Federal Government's decision to appeal the compensation order to the Federal Court of Appeal. We will continue to work hard to end Canada's discrimination against First Nations children, youth and families. Visit https://t.co/ne1rUKG2l6 for more info. pic.twitter.com/Z77eMLTpnj
— F. N. Caring Society (@CaringSociety) October 30, 2021
The tribunal said each First Nations child, along with their parents or grandparents, who were separated because of this chronic underfunding were eligible to receive $40,000 each in federal compensation, which was the maximum amount it could award.
“We at the caring society know that that’s not our money. There’s there’s no world in which we would negotiate a lesser amount of compensation, or fewer people who are now eligible receiving that compensation. We will defend those orders.”
.@cblackst also tells @CityNewsVAN “We want this to be the last time Canada discriminates and hurts First Nations children.. to finally do the right thing and raise a generation of First Nations kids that don’t have to recover from their childhood.”#EveryChildMatters #cdnpoli
— Marcella Bernardo (@MBernardoNews) October 30, 2021
The tribunal also ruled that the criteria needed to be expanded so more First Nations children could be eligible for Jordan’s Principle, a rule designed to ensure jurisdictional disputes over who pays for what don’t prevent kids from accessing government services. Basically, it means that when governments disagree about who’s responsible for providing services to First Nations children, they must help a child in need first and argue over the bills later.
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Blackstock says it’s crucial that people not lose sight of the children who have been traumatized, suffered, been hurt, or have died because of the government’s discriminatory treatment.
“I just want to explain to people what we had in the court record about the harms to kids, because I don’t think that people really understand it,” she tells CityNews.
“The request came forward from a little girl who’s four years old. It’s in the Christmas season of about 2011. She went in for an operation and something went horribly wrong, and she was going to be in hospice care. In order for her to spend this last sacred time with her family, there needed to be medical equipment so that she didn’t go into premature respiratory distress. The request went through the hands of 15 different bureaucrats before someone finally wrote on the form, ‘Absolutely not.’ A doctor with a bigger heart than the government funded those services for that little girl so that she could go home.”
RELATED: Feds’ challenge of ruling on First Nations children ‘a slap in the face’: AFN
The ongoing appeals are incredibly frustrating for Blackstock, who says there have been fatal cases of non-compliance since the ruling, and that families continue to be separated while the case is tied up in court.
“I’m hoping that in this next month and a half, when the government comes to the table, that they’re serious about ending this discrimination because I honestly think it’s a huge opportunity for the country to finally do the right thing for First Nations children and raise a generation of First Nations kids that don’t have to recover from their childhoods,” she says.
“If the federal government doesn’t do it, then we will go back to litigation, and as the court record has shown — every time we litigate, the kids win.”
While we are disappointed that Canada continues to pursue an appeal, we are encouraged that a deadline will be set to negotiate a settlement of this matter. @MarcMillerVM @PattyHajdu @DavidLametti #EveryChildMatters @cblackst#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/k0a7hqOZNe
— RoseAnne Archibald (@ChiefRoseAnne) October 29, 2021
AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has issued a statement saying news of another appeal is “disappointing” but she is “encouraged” the feds have committed to start negotiations on Monday, and have set a firm deadline for their conclusion.
“First Nations children and families have waited too long for justice and healing,” she writes. “Canada must acknowledge the harms that discrimination has had on our children and families. Our collective goal is to ensure that discrimination ends and never happens again. Our children are precious, and our families matter.”
Minister says negotiations will result in better outcome than current orders
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller says the government could implement the ruling, which upheld two Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders, but it believes negotiations will reach a better outcome.
“We could implement the orders written tomorrow. One it would not fix the system which continues to be broken. It would advance very little on long-term reform to the other class actions that would purport to compensate other people’s other classes of children that have suffered equally, if not worse harm, would not get compensated,” he said.
We have been unequivocal from the start: we will compensate those harmed by child and family services polices in order to mend past wrongs and lay the foundation for a more equitable and stronger future for First Nations children, their families and communities. #cdnpoli
— Marc Miller (@MarcMillerVM) October 29, 2021
Miller would not disclose the details of the financial package but says the government and Indigenous groups know it will cost “billions of dollars” to solve the problems.
“We’ll be putting a very significant financial package forward to do two things; to compensate children that have suffered that harm over a broad period of time, and to move forward on something that is so crucial so that we’re not reproducing the broken model that got us into this position in the first place.”
No other child is told ‘you get less because of your race’
The appeal comes amid a renewed focus on reconciliation, and further reckoning with the brutal legacy of the nation’s residential schools after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites.
“When I listen to the truth of the survivors, some of them talking about having to bury those children in the unmarked graves — children who were abused, neglected, in some cases, seriously maltreated — they told those truths through their tears so their grandchildren didn’t have to go through it,” Blackstock says.
“I’m not a utopian believer. I know some of our kids may be in child welfare care, but not at 14 times the rate. And not because the federal government doesn’t think these kids are worth the money. There’s no excuse for these gaps in services and water, and housing and child welfare, and education that have gone on for 154 years.”
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Blackstock points out that the first five of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action pertained to child welfare. Those included fully implementing Jordan’s Principle, and reducing the number of First Nations children who are apprehended and taken into government care.
“When you see the government not wanting to abide by legal orders to uphold the top calls to action that the survivors prioritized, that’s concerning,” Blackstock says.
“What’s so interesting is, they seem to think that treating these children equally is very complex. And yet they do that for every other child. No other child is told ‘you get less because of your race’ in public services in this country. It shouldn’t be happening to First Nations kids either.”
With files from The Canadian Press