Judge weighs native child welfare’s fate

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This article was published 16/02/2012 (5271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The future of child welfare programs on Canada’s reserves is in the hands of a federal judge.

Federal Court Justice Anne Mactavish told the court it wasn’t a decision she would make overnight but said she was mindful of the delays that had already seen this case drag on for nearly five years.

The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society first brought its complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2007, alleging racial discrimination against First Nations children living on reserve due to chronic and systematic underfunding of child welfare services.

Repeated studies showed federal funding for child welfare on reserves was 22 per cent less than what provinces provide for child welfare programs off reserve.

Over the course of a three-day hearing in Ottawa, Mactavish heard arguments in favour of the complaint from the society, as well as the Assembly of First Nations, the Chiefs of Ontario, Amnesty International and, in a somewhat odd instance, the Canadian Human Rights Commission itself.

The commission in 2008 agreed the case had merit and sent it to the Human Rights Tribunal for an inquiry.

The federal government tried twice unsuccessfully in Federal Court to have the case quashed. Its request to the tribunal itself to abandon the case was successful. Tribunal chairwoman Shirish Chotalia dismissed the claim in March 2011. This week’s court hearing was an appeal by the caring society against that decision.

Federal lawyer Jonathan Tarlton told the court Wednesday the tribunal doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case because funding is not a service within the meaning of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Ottawa, argues the government, funds the services but doesn’t actually provide them. The child welfare programs in Manitoba are provided by agencies overseen by four different provincial child welfare authorities.

Caring society executive director Cindy Blackstock said Wednesday the government’s argument is absurd and she is hopeful Mactavish will agree. She said this case has dragged on way too long because the government was more willing to fight it on perceived technicalities than it was willing to come to the aid of vulnerable children.

The federal government has been working to improve its funding of child welfare, signing new funding agreements with six provinces, including Manitoba, hoping to target funds to preventing abuse and neglect and helping families before kids are taken into care.

In July 2010, a $177-million deal over five years was signed with Manitoba.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said the government is taking steps to improve the quality of life for First Nations communities in Canada.

“Funding for family services has more than doubled over the past decade,” said Michelle Yao. “As well, provinces and First Nations have signed onto our enhanced prevention model, which keeps First Nations children in healthy environments in their communities and improves the quality of life for families on reserves.”

She said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case because it is before the courts.

Blackstock said those new funding agreements are a good start but are still not enough to solve the serious deficits facing child welfare programs on reserves.

The only time Canada spends as much money on child welfare for an on-reserve child is if that child is taken into care by a provincial agency. Critics of the system argue that is partly why so many aboriginal kids are taken away from their families — there isn’t any funding for programming to help keep families together but there is funding available when the kids are taken into care.

 

— with files from Postmedia News

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca