Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society addresses the chiefs in Calgary. Photo: Leanne Sanders/APTN.
One of the key figures in fighting Canada to improve child welfare for First Nations children is ready to get to work after 267 chiefs voted against moving forward with the tri-partite agreement worked out by the Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the federal government.
“The most inspiring thing is that children should know how many people, how many of the leaders, love them enough to come here and spend these days having these difficult conversations and making a very difficult decision,” said Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (Caring Society).
Two days of discussions at the special chiefs assembly in Calgary saw passionate arguments for and against the $47.8 billion deal. Proponents felt it was a good foundation to work from. At the same time, those opposed, who won the day, saw numerous problems, from a lack of transparency in negotiations to possible abandonment by Ottawa after 10 years.
Blackstock pointed out prior to the gathering that Tribunal orders stand until they are changed, while federal funding beyond the 10 year span of the deal was not guaranteed.
“I think this is a great opportunity now to reset, and make sure that the discrimination stops against First Nations children all over Canada. That it never happens again, all over Canada and that we ensure that every penny goes to maximum value for children and families,” Blackstock told APTN News.
“And that we respect and restore the chiefs as the decision makers and we honour their experts and their families.”
Blackstock was one of the original complainants at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. She and the AFN accused Canada of underfunding the on-reserve child welfare system. In 2016, the CHRT agreed and ruled that that Canada “willfully” and “recklessly” discriminated against the children and their families.
The tribunal ordered Canada to pay $40,000 for each child and guardian who were taken into the system. It also directed Canada to work with the parties to come up with an agreement that would see an end to the discrimination.
The AFN broke away from Blackstock and launched two class actions against Canada – one for on-reserve child welfare, the other for Jordan’s Principle – a program that is supposed to provide services to children on-reserve with special needs.
Canada agreed to negotiate a settlement, again without Blackstock, that would include satisfying the CHRT rather than go through the courts. In the end, they agreed to a document called the Final Settlement Agreement, or FSA, that was, after several amendments, approved by the CHRT.
The FSA was signed in July. Chiefs at the Calgary gathering complained there wasn’t enough time to review it – and had concerns about some of the details it contained.
In the end, after the votes were counted, 147 voted in favour of the draft agreement, 267 were against and there was one abstention. In spite of the division, Blackstock said she felt the chiefs would be able to come together again.
“You know, we’ve made difficult decisions before, like on compensation when the chiefs sent it back, and said we need you to do better. And that was a difficult decision for the chiefs to make and everybody had different views,” Blackstock said.
“But, we did do better, and I think that’s now the challenge to get down to work to do the better. And the signal to the children and their families is that we call on ourselves to do better, not only for you, but with you.”
Blackstock also said the decision by the chiefs to reject the deal sends a clear message to Ottawa.
“I think it says you can’t negotiate in secret, you can’t try to keep First Nations out of the decision making for their children and you can’t get away with discrimination.”
Hayden King, the executive director of the Yellowhead Institute spoke to APTN about the deal. He said whoever forms the next federal government, they’re obliged to create long term reforms to child welfare.
“Federal governments, whether they’re Conservative or Liberal, have tended to prefer negotiation over litigation because they know that the awards are going to be more significant in litigation,” King said.
“So, regardless if it’s Liberal or Conservative, this fight will continue on and the federal government will be held accountable.”
King was also unsure that a ten year funding agreement could be considered long term reform.
“I think we have enough experience with the federal government to know that we can’t take them at their word. What often happens at the expiration of funding agreements is more negotiation, discretionary spending, so without something firmer in place, we’re back to figuring this all out together which will certainly delay the expansion of First Nations child welfare infrastructure.”
King also commented on the treatment of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society by certain chiefs within the Assembly of First Nations.
“It’s pretty deplorable, I think. The work that the Caring Society has done should be lauded by First Nation leadership and instead, it’s being excused, and that’s really unfortunate I think, for community members to see,” he said.
Mid-afternoon, some chiefs in Alberta said they were approached by bureaucrats from Ottawa, urging them to accept the deal. Blackstock called the move completely inappropriate.
“They have an obligation to consult with the chiefs. They didn’t discharge that obligation and they can’t just drop a deal and expect everybody to kind of go along with it because that’s all Canada wants,” Blackstock said.
No federal cabinet ministers were present at the gathering, something Blackstock feels is telling.
“I think that tells you a lot about how serious they were with carrying through with that deal in the first place,” Blackstock said. When you send bureaucrats, with all due respect, on a $47.8 billion promise, that to me means you were never prepared to deliver it.”
“This isn’t about what Canada wants. This is about ensuring our children are safeguarded against Canada’s discrimination, now and forever.”
The Chiefs will head home Friday after dealing with two other resolutions. The AFN will meet again in December for its regular assembly.
