Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer. Photo courtesy saskatchewan.ca
REGINA – The Saskatchewan government is taking back responsibility for the care of children from the Saskatoon Tribal Council Child and Family Services.
Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer says the tribal council has repeatedly refused the ministry access to files for children it serves on reserve.
Harpauer says that means the government has no idea how many children are being cared for or what kind of care they’re receiving.
The Saskatoon Tribal Council is not submitting monthly reports on children in its care, which is what 16 other First Nations agencies in Saskatchewan already do.
This is consistent with Provincial Auditor Judy Ferguson’s findings in her first report of 2016. She found that in 2014-15, Social Service’s “annual quality assurance review of the Saskatoon Tribal Council was not complete in that it did not include a review of other childcare files, family service files, or resource files. Without access to all files relating to children in care, the Ministry cannot determine if children are properly cared for and protected.”
Harpauer says years of trying to negotiate a new deal between the province and the tribal council have reached an impasse and federal funding expired in March.
She says officials plan to go to the Saskatoon Tribal Council office on Wednesday to get the files and, if that doesn’t work, the province will have to go through the courts.
Last week, Provincial Auditor Judy Ferguson’s first report of 2016 stated that “The Ministry indicated that negotiations continue with the Saskatoon Tribal Council on a data sharing protocol to address reporting and accountability for children in its care.”
Ferguson also wrote, “the Ministry also needs to work with the First Nations agencies to receive all of the information it needs to monitor the well-being of children in care.”
The Canadian Press