Indigenous child protection: piecemeal agreements rather than national agreement?

In the matter of long-term reform of indigenous youth protection, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is saddened by the fact that Ottawa does not have the mandate to return to the negotiating table for a national agreement renewed. In the meantime, the chiefs of the First Nations of Ontario have decided to move forward to obtain a bilateral agreement with the federal government on their own.

Canada has now confirmed that its mandate for program reform does not allow for additional negotiations at the national level, which is a very disappointing decisionreacted in a press release the national head ofAPNCindy Woodhouse Nepinak, mardi.

L’APN received a response from Ottawa on Tuesday regarding its requests to return to the negotiating table following the rejection, in October, of the proposed $47.8 billion agreement to fundamentally reform the protection of Indigenous youth .

According to this answer, Canada is not currently in a position to enter into negotiations other than those with Chiefs of Ontario (COO) and the Nation Nishnawbe Aski (NAN) [qui représente 49 Premières Nations du nord de la province, NDLR].

Go it alone

In December, meeting in Ottawa, First Nations chiefs from across Canada then pressed theAPN to renegotiate an agreement under new terms.

But as a federal election approaches, Chiefs of Ontario and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation have decided to step on the accelerator and are seeking a bilateral agreement with Ottawa.

The leaders of the province have never hidden their support for the proposed 47.8 billion agreement and expressed their disappointment as soon as it was rejected.

A few weeks later, in November, the COO decided that the proposal on the table, for them, remained the best and that it was therefore necessary to negotiate a regional bilateral agreement for the long-term reform of the child protection services program which was substantially the same as the original and proposed agreement.

Canada is not in a position to increase the scope of its mandate. So I, as I am the leader for my region, decided to move forward with this proposalspecified in an interview the regional head of Ontario, Abram Benedict, for whom the decision was not difficult to make.

We must end discrimination against our children!

The proposed $47.8 billion, 10-year deal was reached after years of advocacy and litigation by First Nations and experts seeking to redress decades of discrimination against First Nations children taken from their homes. their families and placed in foster care.

THE Chiefs of Ontariothe Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Canada have confirmed to Indigenous Spaces that they will therefore begin negotiations with a view to concluding an agreement, but which remains within the mandate of the original draft national agreement proposed in July to the chiefs of theAPN.

Chief Benedict can’t say whether a national agreement is still on the table, but he has set an ambitious deadline: having an agreement in place for Ontario communities by the end of March, when parliamentary proceedings should resume following the prorogation resulting from the resignation of Justin Trudeau.

The Minister of Indigenous Services (SAC), Patty Hajdu, considered that this announcement marked an important step and has good hope to reach an agreement.

The three parties believe that the final agreement represents a historic and transformative change in the approach to its child and family services program and would allow First Nations to determine for themselves how best to provide such servicescan we read in a joint press release from COOof the IN and the Canadian government.

It is regrettable that we have not been able to agree on a national agreement, but we firmly believe that this new path is the best way to bring about meaningful changes to the delivery of child protection services in our nations in Ontarioindicated the head of the INAlvin Fiddler, in the press release. The latter had repeatedly said that rejecting the proposed agreement was opting for the status quo.

The draft agreement rejected by the heads of theAPN already included particularities for Ontario, which has a unique reality. A provincial-federal funding agreement has existed since the Indian Welfare Agreement of 1965.

Our priority is children, and we cannot talk about the future if we do not take care of children in the present […] Today we work with parties who are ready to collaborate with usindicated Kaitlin Powercommunications director of SAC.

Even though she describes the situation asregrettable developmentthe chef Woodhouse Nepinak clarified that theAPN will support Ontario leaders in their efforts.

What’s more, the executive committee of theAPN will continue discussions to determine how best to support First Nations children and familiesshe noted.

With the collaboration of Dominique Degré