Mr. Speaker, international human rights law states that whenever possible it is best to ensure children's welfare within the family and community.
Standards for child and family services are set by provincial and territorial governments. Funding on reserves, however, comes from the federal government.
In 2000 the federal government acknowledged that, on average, funding for indigenous children and family services was 22% lower per child than provincial funding for non-indigenous children, despite the higher costs of providing service in small and remote communities. The gap has increased every year since.
With one in ten status Indian children currently in care, it is unacceptable that this Conservative budget ignored the needs of these vulnerable children.
I call on all my colleagues in this House to support Jordan's principle, which states that when there is a jurisdictional dispute over a child's care, the needs of the child come first, without delay, and then there is a referral of that matter to jurisdictional dispute mechanisms.
I also call on the Conservative government to ensure this gap in funding is quickly closed.