Jordan's Principle aims to ensure that all First Nations children, regardless of their place of residence or condition, have access to the services they require to support their development and meet their needs.
OTTAWA-According to the parliamentary budget office (PBO), the federal government may need to pay up to $15 billion to compensate First Nations families and children impacted by the child welfare system, under the Jordan's Principle ruling.
Jordan's Principle requires governments to cover the cost of services for First Nations children and work out any disputes over jurisdiction afterwards. Jordan's Principle, was named for Jordan River Anderson, a boy from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba who spent five years in the hospital while the Manitoba and federal governments argued over which level of government needed to pay for his care in a special home. Jordan's Principle aims to ensure that all First Nations children, regardless of their place of residence or condition, have access to the services they require to support their development and meet their needs.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the government to compensate children and families who had been denied service, or faced delays.
The figure of $15 billion updates the budget office's initial estimate to include parents and grandparents who would qualify for the $40,000 payments. The updated report adds roughly 100,000 more First Nations children, along with their parents and grandparents, whose compensation would alone be about $10 billion.
The new estimate includes the 13,000 children originally expected to be eligible for compensation, mostly related to delayed approval of claims, as well as those taken into care unnecessarily, and their families.
The recent developments flow back to a 2016 ruling from the tribunal that found the federal government at fault for not providing funding on-reserve for child welfare services equal to provincial payments for those living in urban and rural settings.
NDP MP Charlie Angus said the high cost of compensating First Nations children and families is a result of the government's refusal to negotiate a solution with them after the human rights tribunal found Canada guilty of systemic discriminations against Indigenous children in 2016. He says the new report shows that the cost would have been between $2.2 billion and $4.5 billion if the government began negotiating in good faith.
The tribunal ordered the government in September 2019 to pay $40,000 to every First Nations child who since 2006 was inappropriately removed from their home, and pay the same amount to their parents or caregiver. Children who faced denials or delays of basic services were also to receive $40,000.
In November, a tribunal ruling expanded the scope of its order to allow First Nations to decide whether a particular child is entitled to federally funded services, not just the federal government under the Indian Act.
In a statement, Vanessa Adams, a representative for Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, said the department is committed to "move quickly" to compensate First Nations children and families harmed by the underfunding of child and family services in the past.
"We are also firmly committed to undertaking the work necessary to reform Child and Family Services in Canada to ensure that the best interest of the child prevails and that this new system is one that respects First Nations' right to self-determination," Adams added, noting that the department is working with First Nations partners, provinces, and territories to reform to guarantee full implementation of Jordan's Principle.
The PBO report notes that more than 594,000 claims under Jordan's Principle were approved between July 2016 and April 2020.
