Discrimination Against First Nations Children in Canada

Federal government’s failure to comply with Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling at issue next week during United Nations review

Federal government’s failure to comply with Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling at issue next week during United Nations review

Prominent Canadian child welfare and human rights organizations want the United Nations’ top body for combatting racism to take the federal government to task over its persistent failure to ensure that First Nations children have fair and equitable access to the care and support they need.

On August 14 and 15th Canadian government officials will appear before the independent expert body that oversees compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In past reviews, the Committee has raised concerns the disproportionately large numbers of First Nations children who are being placed in state care away from their families and cultures.

Every child has the right to grow up in a safe and healthy home. 

Sometimes families need a little help to make sure their children are getting the care they need. Our government has set up agencies to provide that help. 

But the agencies can’t do their jobs if the government doesn’t provide enough money.

For many years, the agencies supporting families in First Nations communities have had to work with much less money than organizations supporting families in other communities. At the same time, the needs of First Nations families are often greater because of the hardships caused by a long history of government policies that have hurt their communities.

One terrible result is that support agencies are taking very large numbers of First Nations children away from their families. This is because the agencies don`t have enough money to provide families the support they need. One study found that in some provinces, more than 1 in 10 First Nations children had been taken away from their families.

Amnesty International welcomes today’s ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal which has ordered the federal government to take immediate action to end the discriminatory underfunding of child and family services for First Nations children on reserves and in the Yukon.

Although the provinces and territories have jurisdiction to set standards for child welfare services, the federal government sets the funding levels for those services delivered to First Nations children and families on reserves and in the Yukon.

The Tribunal concluded that the federal government’s arbitrary funding formula fails to consider “the actual service needs of First Nations children and families” and creates “incentives to remove children from their homes and communities.”

The discrimination complaint, initiated by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations, first came before the Tribunal in 2008. Amnesty International intervened in the case, as did Chiefs of Ontario.