Saskatchewan First Nations leaders respond to the Indigenous Child Welfare compensation deal
Global News
Saskatchewan leaders react to the details of the Indigenous Child Welfare Compensation that were released today by the federal government.
The federal government has reached a $40-billion agreement in principle to compensate First Nations children harmed by an underfunded child welfare system.
The government will be setting aside $20 billion for compensating Indigenous children and their family members, and another $20 billion is earmarked for funding services for Indigenous kids.
This comes as great news for Saskatchewan Indigenous leaders, who say this has been a long time coming.
“For Cowessess First Nation, we have seen positives moving forward since April 1, 2021,” said Chief Cadmus Delorme. “We have no children in care on Cowessess First Nation…investing in the families and investing with our child welfare agency…today we have no children in care. Off-reserve, we have been doing more investments as well.”
Cowessess First Nation became the first Indigenous community in Saskatchewan to have Indigenous child welfare sovereignty. On July 6, 2021, Chief Delorme signed a coordination agreement under the Miyo Pimatisowin Act, respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families.
This gives Cowessess First Nation full jurisdiction over the community’s children in care anywhere in Canada. Chief Red Bear Children’s Lodge is Cowessess’s child safety body that provides preventative and protective services to keep families together.
The first vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), David Pratt, said a lot of good and hard work has gone into the Indigenous Child Welfare compensation deal.
“We are very pleased and very happy,” said Pratt. “We look forward to engaging our First Nations here in Saskatchewan, getting their direction on how to move forward, and hopefully come to a good, long-standing agreement and commitment with the Government of Canada to deal with the child welfare issues.”