Manitoba advocates say final settlement on First Nations child welfare agreement a step forward

Manitoba advocates for Indigenous families affected by the child welfare system welcomed the new $20 billion settlement agreement to compensate some young people, but said more needs to be done to keep children with their families.

On Monday, Ottawa, the Assembly of First Nations and plaintiffs in two class-action cases finalized the agreement, an early step in a long process of compensating people who have been affected by the discriminatory system.

The head of Fearless R2W — a Winnipeg group that works to support families involved in the child and family services system — said Indigenous children are vastly over-represented in the foster system, and the settlement is just an initial step toward righting wrongs.

"I think people are going to be feeling excited and happy knowing that there is finally going to be some equality," said Mary Burton, the executive director of Fearless R2W.

However, it will take more than money to fix the harm done to First Nations children and their families — child apprehension rates must drop and social workers need better training, Burton said.

"They need to put their personal biases aside and realize that not every family is a nuclear family. Not every family lives the way that Western societies think they should."

Cora Morgan, the First Nations Family Advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said it's important to recognize the toll apprehension takes on children and their families, especially after 150 years of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and day schools.

About 10,000 children are brought under the care of child and family services in Manitoba every year, and the majority won't be eligible for the settlement, she said.

"It's very disappointing that this is only looking at those federally-funded children. It's a huge step for them, but there's more work that needs to be done to acknowledge all of the children who went through the child welfare system," she said from the AFN national conference in Vancouver.

Indigenous Services Canada said the $20 billion settlement is the largest in Canadian history. It will be made available to:

The non-binding agreement reached earlier this year also includes $20 billion for long-term reform of the on-reserve child welfare system, but a final settlement on that portion has yet to be reached.

Morgan wants to see that money used to prevent apprehensions and ensure First Nations have jurisdiction over child welfare.

"We had really wonderful ways of caring for children and our children were held in very high regard. And so I think it's just very important that we return to those ways and bring about healing," she said. 

It's been a long fight with the federal government, said Sarah Clarke, an Ottawa-based lawyer with Clarke Child and Family Law.