Our names are and we are from various parts of so-called Canada. We are writing to you to ask that you end the discrimination against First Nations children, so that all First nations children can grow up safe, healthy, well educated, and with their families who love them, who they have grown up with and grown attached to. We ask that you fund all services on reserves better, especially child and family services, Jordan's Principle services, and education. We ask that you ensure there is no discrimination in any of the services provided to First Nations people and that all organizations providing access to services on reserves are free of racism and discrimination. We ask that you implement the Spirit Bear Plan. And we also ask that you fairly compensate all children and families who have faced harm as a result of the Canadian government's unfair practices.
Child and Family services on reserves are underfunded. They are also prejudiced. This means that instead of helping families with what they need to in order to best take care of their children, they take children away from families that love them and put them in foster care. Families struggling with poverty or mental health or addictions or disabilities still love their children. These families should not be separated, they should be helped so that they can have their needs met. Indigenous children are 17 times more likely to be separated from their families compared to non-Indigenous children. But they are not more likely to face familial abuse. The reason why the vast majority of these kids are being separated is because their families are poor, struggling with mental illness or addiction or disability, or some combination of these factors. If child and family service providers were better funded and more culturally respectful, they would be able to help families meet their children’s needs instead of taking children away.
Most services on reserves, including services for disabled kids, healthcare services, and mental health services, are funded by the federal government. But these services are often underfunded, often severely. There are also many times when First Nations families living on reserves need to access provincial services. When this happens, there are often long disputes between provincial and federal governments about who should pay. This leads to children not receiving the healthcare and services they need, or having long gaps and delays in receiving healthcare and services.
Jordan’s Principle was implemented to ensure that all children receive timely and adequate healthcare and services first and payment disputes are resolved in a way that doesn’t affect children’s access to services. But this principle has been implemented in a very narrow way by the government and many children who needed services and healthcare under Jordan’s Principle did not receive those services. Many children who did receive services did not receive them in a timely manner.
Education on reserves is also underfunded, and First Nations children on reserves do not have access to safe, comfy schools and high quality education. They do not have environments where they can learn all that they can and reach their full potential. This is horrifically unfair, since every child has an equal right to education and every child has an equal right to good quality education where they can learn, grow, thrive, and reach their full potential.
Education needs funding. You need to have enough teachers, small class sizes, and heating in classrooms. You need books, textbooks, school supplies and a library. You need a whiteboard, markers and erasers. You need good bathrooms. It really helps to have smartboards like settler schools have. You need a gym, sports equipment, art supplies, and a safe playground. You need a lab with equipment. You need therapists, nurses, counselors and educational assistants. You need money for field trips. You often need snacks. You need learning toys like base ten blocks for younger kids. First Nations children cannot afford everything that they need to learn effectively.
Education needs funding. You need to have enough teachers, small class sizes, and heating in classrooms. You need books, textbooks, school supplies and a library. You need a whiteboard, markers and erasers. You need good bathrooms. It really helps to have smartboards like settler schools have. You need a gym, sports equipment, art supplies, and a safe playground. You need a lab with equipment. You need therapists, nurses, counselors and educational assistants. You need money for field trips. You often need snacks. You need learning toys like base ten blocks for younger kids. First Nations children cannot afford everything that they need to learn effectively.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the government of Canada to stop discriminating against First Nations children. It has ordered that Canada stop taking children from their loving homes and that they stop denying services and healthcare to children who need them. The government has mostly not listened to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s rulings.
An Agreement in Principle is not a binding agreement. It simply is a set of promises that may or may not be turned into a binding agreement. The Canadian government created an Agreement in Principle with First Nations groups including the Assembly of First Nations to fund and support First Nations child and family service providers adequately so that these service providers could help struggling families instead of separating them. They also agreed to fund and support Jordan’s Principle better so that every child who needs services or healthcare can receive it. The government promised to conduct regular reviews of First Nations child and family service providers and Jordan’s Principle providers to check for discrimination, and to have accountability measures for any discrimination that occurs. They promised to reform Indigenous Services Canada to be less discriminatory and more culturally respectful.
While all these ideas are great, these are just ideas at this point. There is no binding agreement yet. The government promised to do these things but no one knows if they’ll keep these promises. A Final Settlement Agreement on reform, which will be legally binding, is being worked towards. But that Agreement has not been made yet and we do not know what the Final Settlement Agreement will include, if it will stay true to the promises made in the Agreement in Principle, or if it will be effective in keeping children holistically healthy and with their families.
The Canadian government has created a Final Settlement Agreement on compensation where it will compensate some of the victims of Canada’s discrimination against First Nations children and families. While this is good, many victims will not be given the $40 000 in compensation that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has stated that all victims must receive, and many victims will not be compensated at all. Victims that will not be compensated include children who were placed in provincial programs after being separated from their families, the estates of deceased parents or caregiving grandparents, and many people who were denied the help they needed under Jordan’s Principle. There is only $20 billion set aside for compensating families who were discriminated against, which may not be enough to give everyone the $40 000 they are entitled to. And if you want to opt out of the Final Settlement Agreement on compensation and instead claim your $40 000 ordered by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, you only have until February to opt out, and people don’t have the information and guidance they need in order to decide if they want to opt out or not.
It’s not only education, healthcare, child welfare, and disability support services that are underfunded on reserves. All social services on reserves are underfunded. This includes housing services, childcare services, after school programs, utilities services, mental health and addictions support, welfare, and more. This means that families living in poverty have less help and support in order to pull themselves out of poverty and the cycle of poverty continues. It also means that families that need mental health supports don’t receive them. This is bad for children because living in poverty or with bad mental health is not something any child deserves and also because poverty and mental health are often the reasons why children get ripped away from their families and put into foster care. And obviously, being separated from your family is way worse than living in poverty is.
You must ensure that you do the following things:
-Fund First Nations Child and Family Service providers as much as each service provider needs in order to help families to stay together and have their needs met. For example, if a family is suffering from poverty, child and family service providers need to have the money needed to support that family financially instead of taking the child away. If a family is living in bad housing, child and family services needs the funds to improve their housing instead of taking the child away.
-Ensure that all First Nations child and family service providers - and service providers on reserves in general - are non-discriminatory, are routinely and thoroughly checked for any discrimination within the organizations, and that there is accountability and consequences for any discriminatory conduct, policies, or attitudes that are ever found or reported in these organizations.
-Ensure that a broad implementation of Jordan’s Principle is carried out so that every child who ever needs any services, healthcare, or support always receives it.
-Ensure that the system for providing Jordan’s Principle services to people is well-funded, easy to navigate, and non-discriminatory.
-Create a Final Settlement Agreement on child and family service reform and Jordan’s Principle reform that goes above and beyond everything suggested in the Agreement in Principal on reform.
-Ensure that all children, parents, and caregiving grandparents, living or deceased, who have been discriminated against in any way by the Canadian government receive their owed $40 000 compensation. This includes children who were placed in the provincial care system and everyone who did not receive the services they were owed through Jordan’s Principle.
-Fund all services on reserves so that the needs of every person living on reserves can be met.
-Implement the Spirit Bear Plan.
-Fund education on reserves better so that it is of the same quality as education off reserves.
Thank you for reading our letter and please take our concerns to heart.
You can email your own letter to the following ministers:
Prime Minister Trudeau: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Deputy Prime Minister Freeland: chrystia.freeland@parl.gc.ca
Minister of Indigenous Services Hajdu: patty.hajdu@parl.gc.ca
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relationships Miller: Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca
And your own Member of Parliment, who you can find here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en
ns 15.158.61.48da2
