Indigenous child welfare advocates, feds to provide update on compensation deal
CTV
The federal government and Indigenous child welfare advocates will provide an update today on their newly-reached agreement on compensation and long-term reform of First Nations Child and Family Services.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and the parties that have been seeking reparation over the harms caused to First Nations children by Ottawa’s underfunding of the child welfare system will hold a press conference scheduled for 1 p.m. EST.
On Saturday, CTVNews.ca confirmed that the two sides had reached a deal, after committing to a Dec. 31 negotiation deadline.
It would put an end to a years-long legal battle that has splintered successive governments’ relationship with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
In February 2007, the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society filed a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) alleging that the federal government discriminated against First Nations children on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, by providing inequitable funding of child welfare services on reserve.
