Federal Government commits to six points of action in working with Indigenous partners to address number of Indigenous children in care

January 26, 2018 - Ontario, ON - Government of Canada

The severe over-representation of Indigenous children in child welfare systems has reached crisis proportions. First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation children make up more than 50% of children in foster care.  Full reform is needed with a single objective in mind: to keep First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation children safe, healthy and thriving within their families, communities and culture.

The Honourable Jane Philpott, Federal Minister of Indigenous Services, convened a two-day emergency meeting in Ottawa to bring all partners together in order to address this crisis head on. Leaders from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Métis National Council, regional Indigenous leadership, as well as federal, provincial and territorial governments gathered to discuss the causes that lead to the high rate of children in care and work together towards reform. Among issues discussed were: data collection, youth perspectives, community wellbeing, innovative jurisdictional approaches, and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation Child and Family Service programs.

Youth delegates, who had been in the foster care system, were also present to share their lived experiences and contribute to recommendations on the way forward.

The federal government has committed to six points of action:

• Continuing the work to fully implement all orders of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and reforming child and family services including moving to a flexible funding model;
• Shifting the programming focus to prevention and early intervention;
• Supporting communities to draw down jurisdiction and explore the potential for co-developed federal child welfare legislation;
• Accelerating the work of trilateral and technical tables that are in place across the country;
• Supporting Inuit and Métis Nation leadership to advance culturally-appropriate reform; and
• Developing a data and reporting strategy with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners.

The federal government recognizes the critical importance of reform being led by Indigenous leaders and communities in alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action.

Together, we must ensure concrete actions and steps are taken to keep children with their families, communities and culture and build on the commitments made to date.