Human rights tribunal approves massive child welfare deal for Ontario First Nations
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OTTAWA — The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has approved a landmark First Nations child welfare deal between the federal government and First Nations in Ontario, partially ending a decades-long discrimination case.
Monday’s decision comes after chiefs across the country twice voted down a national $47.8 billion deal proposed by the federal government to reform the child welfare system in 2024.
The decision marks a step toward resolving a dispute that began in 2007 when the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society filed a joint human rights complaint about federal child welfare funding.
In a ruling on that complaint in 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal concluded the federal government had discriminated against First Nations children by underfunding the on-reserve child welfare system and ordered reforms.
