Chiefs gather to vote on landmark $47.8B child welfare reform agreement with Canada

First Nations chiefs are gathering in Calgary today as they prepare to vote on a landmark $47.8-billion child welfare reform agreement with Ottawa.

The deal was struck in July between Canada, the Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Assembly of First Nations after a nearly two-decade legal fight over Canada’s underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal said that was discriminatory, and tasked Canada with coming to an agreement with First Nations to reform the system, along with compensating children who were torn from their families and put in foster care.

Chiefs in Ontario voted in support of the agreement last week, but the AFN is set to discuss three resolutions calling for the deal to be struck down or renegotiated.

Chiefs have raised concerns since before July that the agreement was being negotiated in secret, while experts have said the deal doesn’t go far enough to ensure Canada’s discrimination never happens again.

The Assembly of First Nations special assembly continues until Friday, with chiefs expected to vote on the deal Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.