Cindy Blackstock, director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday. She says the federal government should treat children on reserves ‘fairly.’CHRIS WATTIE/Reuters
The federal government's plans to address the inequalities between social services provided to children on reserves and those in the rest of Canada are inadequate and will keep First Nations kids at a disadvantage, says the head of a group that advocates for their welfare.
"Why is this so hard for the government? These are little kids. Just treat them fairly," Cindy Blackstock, the director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, said Wednesday after the government responded to criticisms that it was not fully complying with orders handed down earlier this year by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The Liberal government said in that response that it has already increased funding for programs to improve the health and the lives of First Nations children. The 2016 federal budget offered nearly $635-million in new money over five years for the First Nations child and family services program.
"Work to reform the program requires sufficient time to yield positive and measurable outcomes," the government said.
But because 54 per cent of the money designated to help disadvantaged kids on reserves will not be spent until the final year of the Liberal government's current mandate, and in the year after the next election, Dr. Blackstock says many of those who need help will not get it.
"It seems to just be defending their current position," she said of the government's response.
The Caring Society launched a human-rights case against the federal government more than nine years ago alleging that First Nations' social services are chronically underfunded, compared to the rest of Canada, and native children are being forced into foster care because the government will not pay for the support needed to keep them in their homes.
In January, the tribunal ruled in the society's favour saying the government's insufficient funding structure had discriminated against First Nations children.
In June, the Caring Society filed a report with the tribunal saying the federal government's efforts to end the discrimination, as per the tribunal's orders, had been inadequate. The government was given until Wednesday to respond to those assertions and others of non-compliance that were made by the Assembly of First Nations and the Chiefs of Ontario.
"We know that the child welfare system needs to be overhauled and we are engaging all key partners in this important work, including First Nations agencies, communities, leadership, key organizations, service providers and the provinces and Yukon Territory," a spokeswoman for Carolyn Bennett, the Indigenous Affairs Minister, said after the response was made public.
On Tuesday, Dr. Bennett and Health Minister Jane Philpott made a joint statement saying the government would spend up to $382-million additional dollars over three years to prevent First Nations children from being denied medical support when federal and provincial governments cannot agree who should pay.
Parliament decreed in 2007 that the level of government that is first approached regarding health services for a First Nations child must pay the costs up front – something that is known as Jordan's Principle. But, because application of the principle was restricted to children with "complex medical conditions," some were still caught in the jurisdictional limbo.
It was an issue that the tribunal said the government must fix.
In the response it filed Wednesday, the government said Jordan's Principle would now apply to "First Nations children living on-reserve with a disability or a short-term condition requiring health or social services." A government spokesman said that would cover any native child with a health condition or a disability.
But Dr. Blackstock said the wording means some children must wait for care while the two levels of government fight about coverage. "The tribunal ordered them to apply this principle to all children," she said, "not just on-reserve children with a disability and a short-term condition."
In addition, there were many other places where she said the government's response fell short, including its promise to pay to "incrementally" increase the staff at First Nations social-service agencies.
"They have failed to provide any data to show that all 108 First Nations agencies need this slow roll-in in investment and time to hire staff and do training," Dr. Blackstock said. "Don't fault on the side of giving the children too little and continuing to discriminate against them."