The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has approved a landmark First Nations child welfare deal between the federal government and First Nations in Ontario, partially ending a decades-long discrimination case.
Monday’s decision comes after chiefs across the country twice voted down a national $47.8-billion deal proposed by the federal government to reform the child welfare system in 2024.
In a news release, Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said the $8.5-billion agreement “marks a historic step toward a future where First Nations children and families in Ontario have access to fair, culturally grounded, community-led services.”
The dispute began in 2007 when the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society filed a joint human rights complaint about federal child welfare funding.
In a ruling on that complaint in 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal concluded the federal government had discriminated against First Nations children by underfunding the on-reserve child welfare system and ordered reforms.
Chiefs in Ontario voted in favour of a separate provincial deal last year that is largely in line with the national deal the other chiefs rejected.
Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict said at the time they couldn’t wait for a national agreement while their children continued to be harmed by the child welfare system.
