Tribunal finds Canadian government discriminates against aboriginal children

The Canadian government discriminates against indigenous children on reserves by failing to provide the same level of child welfare services available to children off reserves, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled here Tuesday.

The tribunal, a quasi-judicial body that reviews cases of discrimination sent to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, found that the Canadian government provides lower funding to child welfare on reserves than what the Canadian provinces give children off reserves.

This has "resulted in denials of services and created adverse impacts for many First Nations children and families living on reserves," said the two-member tribunal, who recommended a redesign of the aboriginal child-welfare system and its funding.

The Canadian government refers the aboriginal ethnic group as "First Nations."

First Nations child and family services is managed by the Canadian Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, which must "cease the discriminatory practice and take measures to redress and prevent it," said the tribunal in its 182-page decision.

The case began nine years ago when the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, a national aboriginal organization, and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), which represents more than 900,000 First Nations people living on reserves, filed a complaint alleging that the Canadian government discriminated against children living on reserves.

"Today the kids win," AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde said in a statement following the ruling. "This ruling is nine years in the making. That is a full generation of children waiting for justice and fairness, not to mention the decades of discrimination that has created the gap between First Nations and Canadians."

The AFN pointed out that the ruling also states that the Canadian government failed to fully implement "Jordan's Principle," a child-first principle used in Canada to resolve jurisdictional disputes within and between governments regarding payment for government services provided to First Nations children.

It's named after Jordan River Anderson, a First Nations child who died in hospital of a rare muscular disorder in 2005 at the age of five after the governments of Canada and the province of Manitoba argued over which jurisdiction should pay for his home care.

Canada's House of Commons unanimously passed Jordan's Principle in 2007, but the idea behind it has never been fully implemented at the federal, provincial or territorial level.

Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, the first indigenous person to hold the post, told reporters Tuesday that neither she nor the government were "surprised" by the tribunal's decision.

"At this time in our country's history, discrimination in any form is entirely unacceptable," she said. Endi