Premiers and territorial leaders met at Big River First Nation to discuss the well-being of Indigenous children, youth and families.
Attendees discussed several issues, including First Nations poverty on-reserve and Bill C-92.
The meeting, hosted by Premier Scott Moe, explored ways to implement the bill, which gives control of child welfare back to First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.
“There is still 40,000 First Nations children in provincial and territorial foster care,” says AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde. “That needs to be addressed, and with the passing of C-92, there is a 12-month window now.”
That 12-month window is the amount of time that First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities will be able to negotiate with provincial and territorial governments to give jurisdiction to First Nations Child and Family Services.
If there is no agreement reached, the time frame exceeds 12 months.
“Reasonable efforts were made to reach an agreement, the laws of the Indigenous group and community would have force of law as federal law and would prevail over federal and provincial laws,” as noted in a media release from early 2019.
“When you read C-92, it talks about occupying the field and putting the needs of the child first,” explains Chief Bellegarde. “It focuses on prevention as opposed to apprehension.”
The bill was first released in February and was received with praise by the AFN.
“I encourage all the premiers to start working with First Nations leaderships right across each province and territorial government to work with First Nations leaders to outline and work with chiefs and respect legislation,” says Chief Bellegarde.
A report that was released today finds that half of the children who reside on-reserve are impoverished, with higher numbers in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The report called Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada was co-authored by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and was published by Upstream: Institute for a Healthy Society.
Big River First Nation is located 130 kilometres northwest of Prince Albert.
(PHOTO: Big River First Nation Chief Bruce Morin (second from right) welcomes Premier Scott Moe (far right), Canada’s Premiers and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde (left) for discussions with Indigenous Leaders. Photo by Dan Jones)