OTTAWA — A First Nations child welfare advocate on Wednesday implored chiefs to ensure "no child is left behind" in a landmark $40-billion settlement agreement with the federal government.
OTTAWA — A First Nations child welfare advocate on Wednesday implored chiefs to ensure "no child is left behind" in a landmark $40-billion settlement agreement with the federal government.
Cindy Blackstock delivered the message to an Assembly of First Nations gathering in Ottawa, after being invited to take the stage by Cindy Woodhouse, regional chief in Manitoba who helped negotiate the agreement, which had been thrown into question since being rejected by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The AFN, representing more than 600 First Nations across the country, had asked the tribunal to approve the settlement deal, which would see the government spend $20 billion to compensate families and children for systemic discrimination in the Indigenous child welfare system.It would also spend another $20 billion on making long-term reforms.
Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Caring Society who first lodged the complaint at the heart of the issue, raised concerns that the agreement wouldn't provide $40,000 in compensation to all eligible claimants, which is the amount the tribunal ruled they should get.
"We can make sure that in our First Nations canoe of justice, no child has to see their money go away and no child is left behind in justice," she said Wednesday.
"We are capable of that."
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