A federal government official says adding a complaints mechanism to Jordan’s Principle requests would create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
“ISC’s (Indigenous Services Canada) position is that a better choice is to focus our efforts here with the panel on the existing problems that are driving the backlog rather than creating a new mechanism,” Dayna Anderson, a lawyer with Justice Canada, said at a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) hearing in Ottawa on Thursday.
“So dealing with the problems that drive the complaints is what’s necessary.”
The CHRT wrapped up hearings this week on a non-compliance motion filed by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society against the federal government.
The caring society said the government is failing in its obligations to process Jordan’s Principle requests in timely manner and has adopted a too-restrictive view of what constitutes an urgent request.
By its own admission, Ottawa said it has been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests meaning tens of thousands are going unprocessed.
Nevertheless, Anderson argued the majority of requests are being successfully processed and the caring society’s complaint paints an inaccurate picture.
Caring Society executive director Cindy Blackstock told APTN News the large backlog is exactly why an external complaints mechanism is needed.
“The result of that is that families who can’t get through on a 24-hour line, who have an urgent case, in those backlogs that Canada admits to, who has a child who is in palliative care and they can’t get the help they need from the 24-hour line because nobody is there to pick up the call – they don’t get the help,” she said. “That’s the result. There’s no solution for them.”
Jordan’s Principle says First Nations children should be able to access and receive supports when they need them – regardless of where they live.
Anderson also requested the panel look at extending the timeline for meeting urgent individual requests from the current 12 to 24 hours.
“I’m also saying that the cases are becoming so complex that that isn’t enough time to do the necessary substantive equality analysis and so we do need that extra 12 hours.”
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But Blackstock said such an extension could have dire consequences.
“That is unacceptable. They’ve produced no evidence that their backlogs or their volume are related to the timelines. None. It’s really vital that urgent cases be dealt with in an urgent timeline. In fact, even 12 hours for some children is too long.”
In her closing arguments, Anderson also argued against imposing specific timelines for financial reimbursement on requests saying it could negatively affect existing contribution agreements.
Throughout the hearings, which began on Tuesday, the government said workable solutions to meeting Jordan’s Principle requests need to be negotiated between Ottawa and First Nations rather than in the confines of the CHRT.
The government is currently in discussions with the Assembly of First Nations on Jordan’s Principle.
Ottawa also recently reached a $47.8 billion agreement with the AFN on long-term child welfare reform.
That agreement will be taken to the chiefs for approval during a special assembly in Calgary scheduled for Oct. 16-18.
