Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not as a Marshall Plan, but what we do know is what it will cost you if you don't do anything or you continue with this drop-in-the-bucket approach. The World Health Organization says that for every dollar a government spends on a child, you will save $20 U.S. down the line. Fail

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Too often the approach by Parliament in the past has been to look at issues one at a time, youth suicide, the deficits in child welfare, or maybe looking at housing or water. What we haven't done yet is look at the causal factors that tie all of these things together, which are,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Member, you raise an important point. I used to work off reserve in one of the richest municipalities in Canada, West Vancouver in the British Properties, doing child protection. Never once was I asked to refer those people, as rich as they were, to seek private subsidies for th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First, I would like to see this Parliament decide that we're no longer going to racially discriminate against children as a fiscal policy. You stop doing it. You stop deepening that whole disadvantage that affects all areas of our children's experience. Second, you start addressi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I was speaking with regard to the immediate relief measures arising out of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which only affects first nations children. Specifically, I was referring to the provision of child and family services, and Jordan's principle.. That doesn't even co

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The program for INAC's provision of child and family services does not apply to the territories. I had the honour of being on an advisory panel on legislative change and visiting many of the first nations communities in the Northwest Territories. I saw many of the same deficits f

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There is, in the United States, a national child welfare data collection system. Canada doesn't have one. In fact, I can't sit here and tell you even how many children are in child welfare care today. That's something I would encourage the federal government to look at, a nationa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We've seen good practices from various first nations agencies. In the research we've done and in our consultations, one of the concerns actually has been the underfunding. It's even difficult for first nations proximal to urban areas to recruit qualified staff, because just acros

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just circling back to your last question, I will just make note that in the United States, which also has remote communities in Alaska, there are no boil-water advisories in any of their communities. If they can do it, we can do it, too. To your question on first nations childre

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The shortfall in education is certainly a key one. I know there are investments, but, again, they fall into the same peril as child welfare, in that they're rolled out over five years, with 50% of the investment not coming come until year five. If you're a kid in grade 8, you won

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have proposed that in our submission to the tribunal. We want to be solution-involvers. I'm not about winning. I want to make sure things change for kids. Number one, we have said that you need to update that $108 million to 2016 values and get that flowing out the door. The

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There was no evidence tendered at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal by the federal government that the reason children should be treated unequally is somehow a capacity issue of first nations. There is no finding in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that suggests that first nat

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, they are at risk of that. In fact, we have seen the subsequent order from the tribunal of May 24, which said that progress was insufficient and ordered the government to immediately report back.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, and the Auditor General actually recommended they cease that process in 2008. The federal government agreed and continued it. If the $98 million in transfers continues, for example, that would represent 52% of the planned education infrastructure funding that the federal g

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  On April 24, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued an order to the federal government saying that its progress in implementing Jordan's principle was not meeting the order. It required it to do so by May 10, and to confirm that was done. It did issue a compliance report. We f