NAN, Hajdu push toward massive child welfare deal
Nishinawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) are in talks with the feds for an Ontario-only agreement to fix the child welfare system in First Nations months after a Canada-wide $47.8-billion reform deal was rejected at the national level.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said Friday she’s confident the federal government and the two First Nations organizations can reach an agreement on child welfare reform quickly.
NAN and COO leaders approached the federal government to negotiate a deal in “the spirit of the final settlement agreement,” Hajdu told reporters Friday at her Thunder Bay-Superior North constituency office. “And so that’s where we’re at right now.”
She added that “the conversation is going well and we hope that we’ll be able to sign an agreement.”
Speaking to Newswatch earlier, NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said he believes he will see “an agreement very soon that will give our communities the resources that they need to look after their own children.”
Fiddler said he’s not worried by political uncertainty in Ottawa, where Parliament has been prorogued, the governing Liberals are in a leadership transition and opposition parties have said they will bring down the minority government in a vote of non-confidence.
“We’ve been given assurances that whatever is happening in Ottawa will not have any impact on the work that we need to do, and we all know that we have a very short window and we’re all committed to doing that work in a short period of time.”
Hajdu said the building blocks for an Ontario agreement are already there.
“We’re not looking to start from scratch,” she said, noting that NAN and COO “were actively involved in crafting” the rejected national deal.
“They know what’s in it, and they agree in principle with the majority of what’s there for Ontario.”
Some details in the national agreement “need to be scoped down for Ontario,” she said.
Asked how much money could be in an Ontario deal, she said it’s still “under negotiation, but it’s an amount that’s agreed upon in general between Chiefs of Ontario and Nishinawbe Aski Nation. There isn’t a dispute right now about the amount.”
The Ontario organizations “were very active in all of the negotiations all throughout the process, so there’s no surprises here,” Hajdu said.
Chiefs and proxies at an Assembly of First Nations gathering in Calgary in October voted to reject a settlement agreement on long-term reform of First Nations child and family services across Canada.
Most First Nations in Ontario, however, supported the agreement.
The decision to move forward with Ontario-only talks has raised eyebrows in First Nations outside the province.
The chief of a First Nation in northern Manitoba, for example, told APTN “this decision raises serious concerns about equality and fairness in how Canada fulfills its obligations to First Nations. The (Canadian Human Rights Tribunal) rulings have been clear: Canada must treat First Nations universally, equally, comprehensively, and fairly. What Canada does for one or one group, it must do for all.” – snnewswatch.com
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Where in the world is the Federal Government going to get that money? The Federal Government debt right now is closing in on $1.3 trillion. It is growing at a rate of $4.6 million per hour. $47 billion more?
Imagine a world where governments had to have balanced budgets. Add $47 billion in spending, find $47 billion in current programs to cut. Luckily for all levels of governments currently piling on the debt, the day of financial reckoning is somewhere down the road. When that day comes, and it will, the bankers, billionaires and other elites will make out like bandits while the ‘great unwashed’ masses will pay a heavy financial price.
Why does nobody care about this? Why is nobody asking where that $47 billion is going to come from?