THUNDER BAY — Nishnawbe Aski Nation is taking the federal government before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal over the issue of funding for First Nations child welfare agencies.
NAN has asked for a non-compliance order against the government for its failure to change its funding formula to take into account the extra costs of providing services in remote communities.
The action follows a study conducted for NAN by a Toronto consulting firm, Barnes Management Group.
Its report, issued earlier this year, said three child welfare agencies serving First Nations across northern Ontario should receive 47 per cent to 68 per cent more funding to provide the required programming in the communities they serve.
The consultants said Sioux Lookout-based Tikinagan Child & Family Services was the most severely underfunded of the three that they examined.
"Northern remote communities require many more resources than non-remote communities, with greater costs to provide services and greater community needs," they said.
In 2016, the Human Rights Tribunal found that the federal government racially discriminates against First Nations children by providing insufficient funding for child and family services on reserves.
After that decision, NAN and the former Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs agreed to collaborate on child welfare reform, including research into the impact of remoteness on the cost of providing services in different communities.
It's not clear what led to a subsequent divergence of opinion on how to proceed.
Tikanagan serves 30 communities in the northwest.
The other agencies studied for the report are Payukotayno and Kunuwanimano which serve communities along the James Bay coast and in northeastern Ontario respectively.
A ruling on the NAN request to the Human Rights Tribunal has the potential to affect federal funding for Indigenous child welfare services across Canada.
In a statement provided to Tbnewswatch after this story was published, Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Rola Tfaili said:
