Tribunal again tells feds to fund Indigenous child welfare, minister agrees
OTTAWA — Child welfare agencies on reserves will immediately start getting funding to cover the actual cost of programs to keep families together, Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott said Thursday.
The commitment is a direct response to an order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal made public on Thursday.
It was the fourth time the tribunal said Canada was not fully complying with its 2016 order to stop discriminating against kids on reserves and demanding proper funding for child and family service programs. In its 99-page decision, the tribunal panel said while the federal government had taken some steps to respond to the 2016 order in the last two years, it is “incorrect for Canada to say it did everything it could and everything that was asked of it.”
The tribunal also took issue with Canada’s argument that the tribunal can’t make orders about specific funding, saying that goes against the idea that human rights legislation is there to ensure governments uphold rights.