4. Enact child welfare legislation that establishes national standards for Aboriginal child apprehension and custody cases

We call upon the federal government to enact Aboriginal child-welfare legislation that establishes national standards for Aboriginal child apprehension and custody cases and includes principles that:

i. Affirm the right of Aboriginal government to establish and maintain their own child-welfare agencies.

ii. Require all child-welfare agencies and courts to take the residential school legacy into account in their decision making.

iii. Establish, as an important priority, a requirement that placements of Aboriginal children into temporary and permanent care be culturally appropriate.

In June 2019, Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families, was passed by Parliament. It came into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, though it has been challenged by the province of Quebec.

The act affirms that the inherent right of self-government in section 35 of the Constitution includes jurisdiction in relation to child and family services. It requires Indigenous groups that intend to exercise this right to enter into co-ordination agreements with the federal and provincial governments.

The act also stresses the importance of maintaining the child’s ties with their Indigenous community to preserve the child’s cultural identity and connections to language and territory.

However there are still concerns about jurisdiction and funding. Bill C-92 does not guarantee the funding needed for Indigenous communities to implement their own child and family laws. Funding is negotiated between the Indigenous governing bodies and the provincial and federal governments.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller and AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde signed an agreement in July 2020 establishing a “joint fiscal table” on First Nations child and family services — a forum where Ottawa and First Nations can negotiate funding agreements to support communities creating their own child welfare programs under Bill C-92.

In July 2021, Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan became the first Indigenous group in Canada to sign an agreement with Ottawa for federal funding of locally controlled child welfare services, since the act came into force.

Previously

In November 2018, then-Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott announced a plan to hand over control of child welfare services to Indigenous governments in an effort to reduce the number of Indigenous children in care.

In September 2017, Carolyn Bennett, then minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, was presented with a specially commissioned report called Reforming First Nations child welfare: Summary of Engagement.

The report outlined findings of a national “engagement process” with First Nations child and service providers, community members and provincial and territorial counterparts across the country.

Meanwhile, child welfare legislation varies between provinces and territories. Since 2015, however, some jurisdictions have modified them, to different degrees, to address Call to Action #4.