Tribunal rejects federal governments request to add panelists to First Nations child welfare case

The chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (Tribunal) has turned down a request from the federal government to add two new commissioners to a panel hearing a case of reforming the First Nations child welfare system across the country. “The Chairperson has reviewed the parties’ submissions in response to the AGC’s panel recomposition,” wrote a short reply from chair Jennifer Khurana and released by the registrar. “The AGC’s [Attorney General of Canada] request is dismissed. According to the chair, reasons she dismissed the request will follow. In July, the federal government requested that Khurara add two new commissioners to the panel overseeing a discrimination case against the federal government over child welfare on reserves and Jordan’s Principle. When the Tribunal started hearing the case in 2012, the panel consisted of members Sophie Marchildon, Réjean Bélanger and Edward Lustig. Bélanger died suddenly in 2015, leaving just two to oversee the case. Lustig resigned on July 7, leaving just Marchildon. According to the government, the case has gotten more complex since Bélanger’s death and requested that the chair not allow Marchildon to continue on her own. First Nations organizations including the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (Caring Society) and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) the two groups that started the complaint back in 2007, argued adding two new commissioners now would cause delays in the process. In 2016, the Tribunal ruled that Canada discriminated against First Nations children by knowingly underfunding programs that were supposed to help them. They ordered the discrimination to end immediately and that all sides work together to come up with a plan to reform the system. A decade later, Marchildon is now reviewing a plan put forward by the federal government and another by a group called the National Children’s Chiefs’ Commission – a body commissioned by chiefs across the country. Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the Caring Society, told APTN News in August that it joined the Commission “in expressing our deep concern regarding Canada’s attempts to disrupt the Tribunal’s decision-making process at this late stage as it will undoubtedly cause delays (and harms) for children.” “This unnecessary maneuver comes at a time when we have proceedings underway to enforce Canada’s legal obligation to not discriminate against children relating to Jordan’s Principle and child and family.” The AFN argued that “an entire generation has passed; children born when this Complaint was first brought in 2007 are now adults with children of their own. Yet Canada has still not implemented the necessary remedy to address systemic discrimination against First Nations children and youth. “Any step that risks delaying a final, effective and durable remedy must be avoided.” Canada is also requesting that Marchildon not be allowed to issue a written document of reasons why the panel approved the Ontario Final Agreement – an $8.4 billion agreement between First Nations in Ontario and the federal government to turn responsibility of the child welfare system to communities. Khurara said that decision will come later. Continue Reading