Continuing the conversation: engagement questions

The Government of Canada is committed to achieving reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through a renewed nation-to-nation, government-to-government, and Inuit-Crown relationship based on the recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership as the foundation for transformative change. One of the most urgent priorities for change is the current humanitarian crisis where Indigenous children are vastly disproportionately over-represented in the child and family services system.

From the Government of Canada's perspective, on-going engagement on child and family services reform provides a valuable opportunity to build on the knowledge, expertise and experience of individuals and organizations across the country. Underlying this vision is the principle that partners and stakeholders are engaged in informing the decision-making process on issues that affect them. In this spirit, the Government of Canada encourages First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation leadership and all partners involved in the child and family services system to join the dialogue that will help to advance our common objective: transforming Indigenous child and family services so that children can grow in a safe environment and families can stay together.

The Government of Canada's First Nations Child and Family Services Program funds agencies that provide child and family services on reserves. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that this program was discriminatory against First Nation children on reserves by failing to provide the same level of child welfare services that exist elsewhere. The decision compared on-reserve child welfare to the residential schools system, where "the fate and future of many First Nations children is still being determined by the government" and less funding for family support means that more children ended up in the child welfare system. There have been many other calls for child family services reform for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada: in addition to the Tribunal rulings, numerous documents, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and the Interim Report on National Advisory Committee on First Nations Child and Family Services have outlined the need for federal legislation as a critical tool to help reform child and family services. Minister Philpott recognized that the disproportionate number of Indigenous children currently in the child welfare system has created a "humanitarian crisis" in our country.

As we continue to seek your views, we want to be very clear: the federal government will not impose legislation. This ongoing engagement process seeks to clarify whether co-created options for potential federal legislation can be a useful tool to affirm the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families and, if so, what this should look like. We will not proceed alone.

Following the January 2018 Emergency Meeting on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation Child and Family Services, the Government of Canada committed to a six-point plan of action to:

1. continue to fully implement the orders from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal including Jordan's Principle, and reform First Nations child and family services including moving to a flexible funding model
2. work with partners to shift the focus of programming to culturally-appropriate prevention, early intervention, and family reunification
3. work with our partners to support communities to draw down jurisdiction in the area of child and family services, including exploring co-developed federal legislation
4. participate and accelerate the work at tripartite and technical tables that are in place across the country in supporting reform
5. support Inuit and Métis Nation leadership in their work to advance meaningful, culturally appropriate reform of child and family services
6. create a data strategy with provinces/territories and Indigenous partners to increase inter-jurisdictional data collection, sharing and reporting to better understand the rates and reasons for apprehension

The Government of Canada is committed to co-creating options for potential federal legislation on child and family services that respect the distinct cultural approaches and contextual realities of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. There can be no "one-size-fits all approach", and any approach must respect the inherent right of self-government as an existing Aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

Based on the Emergency Meeting and other foundational discussions, several themes on child and family services legislation emerged:

1. a possible federal statutory basis for equitable, predictable, flexible and needs-based funding for First Nations, Inuit and Métis child and family safety and wellness^{Footnote 1}
2. a possible federal statutory basis for expanding child and family services models eligible for federal funding to include First Nations, Inuit and Métis, including enabling the exercise of jurisdiction^{Footnote 2}
3. guiding principles/standards
4. enforcement mechanisms
5. other measures identified through engagement as essential for a federal enabling legislative approach

This engagement is stage one of a proposed two-stage process. Stage one, between summer and fall 2018, is to focus on co-developing options for potential federal legislation that build on the broad-based direction shared at the Emergency Meeting and received by other Indigenous organizations, such as the resolution^{Footnote 3} passed in May 2018 by the Assembly of First Nation calling for federal legislation within the current federal mandate. Stage two, building on the proposed legislative phase, would engage First Nations, Métis and Inuit leaders, experts and organizations in designing and identifying other matters affecting children, youth and families that could be addressed by the federal government through policies, regulations or other mechanisms.

The following questions are meant to guide the engagement process for co-creating options for potential federal child and family services legislation.