The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) may have been hoping for quick consensus on the new $47.8 billion child welfare draft Final Settlement Agreement (FSA), but the opening day of the Special Chiefs Assembly got off to a rocky start.
The new deal was nearly derailed by a lack of consensus as several motions were proposed including people outside the AFN to sit on panels. The motions were defeated.
The day started with National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak encouraging chiefs to accept the deal for fear that a federal election will change the political landscape.
“You don’t have to be a political scientist to figure out that there’s a good chance we will be with a different government sooner than later,” she said to chiefs and delegates.
“What the Conservative leader has said is that he won’t cut into programs that are already in place for Canadians. Based on that, I say let’s get this program in place before the next election.”
Woodhouse Nepinak has previously commented on the political risks of not accepting the deal, including when she announced it to chiefs in a closed-door meeting in July. She told delegates in Calgary that she’s tried to build bridges with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, but can’t guarantee a better deal could be reached with him based on that party’s record on Indigenous issues and its promise to cut spending.
The deal was struck in July between Canada, the Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Assembly of First Nations after a nearly two-decade legal fight over Canada’s underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal said that was discriminatory and tasked Canada with coming to an agreement with First Nations to reform the system, along with compensating children who were torn from their families and put in foster care.
Chiefs in Ontario voted in support of the agreement last week, but the AFN special assembly is set to discuss three resolutions this week calling for the deal to be struck down or renegotiated.
Before the deal was announced in July some chiefs raised concerns that it had been negotiated in secret. Some child welfare experts have also said the deal doesn’t go far enough to ensure Canada’s discrimination never happens again.
The Squamish Nation said Wednesday its concerns about the deal have been ignored by Canada and the Assembly of First Nations.
In an Aug. 12 letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu and Woodhouse Nepinak, the Squamish Nation said the agreement won’t address the systemic discrimination identified by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
“We firmly believe that Canada must discharge its duty to consult First Nations on the draft agreement before any decision is made, as the current AFN’s engagement, approval process and related timelines do not enable free, prior and informed consent, likely leading to a breach of First Nations rights,” said chairperson Khelsilem, who goes by a single name.
“The lack of a response, or if Canada defers to the AFN’s proposed engagement process, will force the Squamish Nation to undertake further measures to affirm and safeguard the rights of our children and our Nation.”
As of Wednesday, Khelsilem says the Squamish Nation has not received a response from either Canada or the Assembly of First Nations.
Khelsilem put forward a resolution at this assembly calling for the vote to be delayed until amendments and changes are made, and for the Assembly of First Nations to include experts at the negotiation table.
Another from the chief of Tobique First Nation calls for another 90 days for chiefs to review the final drafts of the agreement before voting on it.
The special assembly continues until Friday, with chiefs expected to vote on the deal on Thursday.
The Assembly of First Nations says more than 400 chiefs registered for the event, along with 1,900 registered participants.
The new deal was nearly derailed by a lack of consensus on a motion made by Chief Troy Knowlton of Piikani Nation. He made a motion to include officials from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (caring society) on the plenary session expert panels. The motion did no carry but in the end, chiefs moved to have a caring society member on each panel.
“To satisfy everyone here, that would be in the best efforts to move things forward and so we don’t have to recreate the wheel is to include them,” Casimir said to cheers and applause. “Collective voices and unity, that’s what this is about.“
In the end, Casimir and seconder, Chief Denny, agreed to have someone from the Caring Society within each of the plenary sessions with an expert panel.
Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the caring society slated to speak Thursday morning. Her August 2024 “report card” on the draft FSA issued by Blackstock noted several shortcomings.
The Society gave a grade of “F” to the draft in “Protecting Future Generations:”
“The Tribunal can make legal orders to stop and prevent the recurrence of discrimination that don’t expire. The draft FSA expires after 10 years and provides inadequate protections against Canada reverting to its discriminatory conduct beyond year 10,” the report card said in part. “After the FSA expires, there is little clarity that First Nations children have adequate, sufficient, and enforceable safeguards to ensure Canada does not discriminate against them again.”
It also gave a failing grade in the area of “FSA Governance/UNDRIP:”
Kolin Sutherland Wilson, of the Gitxsan Nation, said the chiefs need to give the FSA their best shot.
“We only get one really good chance at this, to do it right. And if we don’t do it right, they’re going to call us failures again and it’s not us that’s gonna suffer for our failure, it’s our children,” said Sutherland Wilson.
Sutherland Wilson spoke of the need for more time for the members of his nation and others to learn more about the FSA.
Others, like proxy Matthew Angees of Kingfisher Lake First Nation in Ontario said the chiefs in his region are supportive of the FSA. Angees works in education for his community and feels children have too many outside influences that can “destruct their minds.”
“Right now it’s very hard to properly and effectively nurture our children. There’s a drug epidemic, drug abuse, affects of residential school. There’s a lot of families that went through that and they can’t really be a good parent the way they should be,” Angees said.
Supporting the family of Jon Wells
Woodhouse Nepinak also acknowledged the family of Jon Wells, the Blood Tribe man who died during an interaction with Calgary Police officers. His mother and other family members in attendance were brought to the stage to be recognized and lifted up by those in attendance.
Blood Tribe Chief Roy Fox brought forward a resolution for a public inquiry into the deaths of Indigenous people by police to be voted on later at the assembly.
“The Blood Tribe will be pursuing a formal complaint against the three officers involved in Mr. Wells’s death,” Fox said.
A special tribute was also made to the late grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Cathy Merrick, who died suddenly Sept. 6.
Former national chief of the AFN, Phil Fontaine, is expected to address the assembly on Thursday.
With files from the Canadian Press
