Toronto Star Referrer

Chiefs unite to demand compensation

New resolution calls on Ottawa to ‘immediately pay’ victims of Canada’s child welfare system

R AI S A PATEL

In the end, it fell to former senator Murray Sinclair to get the job done. In an 11th-hour move, the former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was tapped late Wednesday to help combine two conflicting resolutions seeking justice for those harmed by Canada’s child welfare system.

The duelling resolutions had sparked concern at the Assembly of First Nations annual Special Chiefs Assembly, which has seen chiefs from across the country gather in Ottawa — and online — this week to vote on priorities facing First Nations communities. There were worries votes would be split between the two resolutions and divide communities, given that each charted a different pathway for how children and families affected by the chronically underfunded system should be compensated.

“We are coming together as First Nations leaders because united, we can do anything we want to take on this government and get the full compensation for all the children, the full dignity for all of our families,” said Squamish Nation Council Chairperson Khelsilem, who moved the combined resolution.

Adopted Wednesday night, the new resolution calls on the federal government to “immediately pay the compensation to all victims of Canada’s discrimination,” including those eligible under a related class action and orders from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

Delegates decided against heading back to the negotiating table with Ottawa, voting instead to put a “minimum of $20 billion earmarked for compensation in an interest-bearing account” before sending payments to victims.

The resolution would also compel the AFN to provide regular progress reports on fulfilling the compensation deal and seek help regarding any barriers to its implementation. The resolutions dealt with Wednesday stem from a proposed $40 billion final settlement agreement — known as the FSA — that was intended to bring an end to a years-long legal battle concerning thousands of children and caregivers hurt by the system.

In 2016, the human rights tribunal ruled that Ottawa had discriminated against First Nations kids by failing to provide the on-reserve child welfare system with the same resources as welfare services elsewhere in the country. In 2019, it ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 to those victims; a ruling Ottawa appealed, which was later rejected by the Federal Court.

The FSA was first announced at the start of 2022 and finalized over the summer. Half of the $40 billion sum will go toward compensating victims and their families, with the other half going toward longerterm reforms to child and family services on First Nations.

The dilemma facing chiefs and their proxies this week is that in October, the tribunal determined that the deal failed to include certain groups of children and caregivers. The tribunal also said some caregivers would receive less compensation than they are owed, along with some others who didn’t receive essential services because different levels of government could not agree on who should pay for those services.

The tribunal, which must green light the FSA along with the Federal Court, therefore declared that the compensation package did not fully satisfy its orders. That prompted both the AFN and Ottawa to seek a judicial review of the decision, which was published without its full reasons.

The two resolutions initially presented to assembled chiefs offered two roads forward: one that called on delegates to back the FSA instead of bowing to the tribunal’s orders and another that would demand the federal government and the AFN to drop their appeals.

Khelsilem, who originally brought forward the latter resolution, told the Star he felt proud that all parties were able to come together under Sinclair’s guidance.

On dropping his demand that Ottawa and the AFN cancel their review of the tribunal’s latest ruling, Khelsilem said it was a compromise he feels comfortable with because the combined resolution means more children and families will get the compensation they deserve.

In response to the vote, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu’s office said: “Our work remains unchanged: ensuring compensation for First Nations children and their families who have been harmed by discriminatory child welfare funding by the federal government and undertaking reforms to ensure that discrimination never happens again.”

The federal government has argued that it needs more clarity on the tribunal’s October ruling, while the AFN believes the FSA already offers more compensation than required under the tribunal’s orders.

But for Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the person who first filed a human rights complaint alongside the AFN in 2007 about the discrimination, Wednesday’s consensus might finally represent the beginning of an end.

“We have had too many apologies. We’ve had too many compensation deals. We’ve had too many kids hurt. And this has got to be it,” said Blackstock, whose moving speech received a standing ovation from those in the room.

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2022-12-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestarepaper.pressreader.com/article/281659669077374

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