Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There needs to be funding allocated in the budget to realize it. The federal government needs to be able to embrace the full and proper definition of Jordan's principle. Also, the federal government's website has contact numbers that you're supposed to call to report a Jordan's p

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, they are. In my view, they are continuing to racially discriminate, and children are continuing to be denied services. That is the uncomfortable reality we need to deal with. It is not announcements, it's not nice statements by me, by the government, or by anyone else that

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I see children being racially discriminated against. I think it is important to recognize that this case did not sneak up on the federal government. Jordan's principle didn't sneak up on the federal government. Jordan's principle was first mentioned in a joint report that was agr

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We work quite a bit at the caring society on what works. We know from the evidence that what works is community-developed programs around family safety. We have a program called the Touchstones of Hope. One of the biggest things taken from first nations communities through the re

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it definitely could be part of anything that you want call an “enhanced focused approach”, but I think we need to be mindful, Member, that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found the enhanced focused approach to be racially discriminatory. We certainly don't want to be r

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We do know there are experts on the ground level delivering those services in those complicated environments. They've been asking us to ensure that the federal government—which is what you have leverage over—supports their community-based solutions, and funds them adequately. The

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Right. We also, though, need to embrace the reality that the federal government has been oiled as a machine to racially discriminate against children for 148 years. How do we change that culture to support people to act in ways that are non-discriminatory? The Assembly of First N

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would say that the the binding order comes first. We already have on the record the federal government's own document showing that shortfall and the current actions falling far short of that. I hear the arguments in favour of an incremental approach. At some level, I'm sympat

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think those are the only choices on a governmental menu. I look at discretionary costs in the overall budget, for example. I know there are discussions about sponsoring expo. I personally don't want to go to an expo if it means that children are being denied an equal oppo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would say that you need that Marshall Plan, that Marshall audit, with full participation of first nations in that. You need to look at the recommendations that are already on the books, including in regard to the shortfalls, and develop a public reporting mechanism for those ty

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's the unfortunate part of the federal government's arriving at the $71-million figure. That figure was developed by the government without any consultation with first nations or with experts who know these funding formulas. We don't know where that number comes from, so that

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, members, for having me here today. I, too, would like to join in the recognition of the unceded Algonquin territory, and also to recognize Regional Chief Bill Erasmus, who is with me today. We're here at a moment of Canada's history that many of our ancesto

Finance committee  I think one of the important pieces to remember is that there are documented reports showing the inequalities in these education areas on the books already. Not only have they been documented, they've moved to talking about what the harms are for children. It doesn't take a rocke

Finance committee  The Auditor General, in her review in 2008 of the child and family services program, specifically cited the fact that these transfers from the infrastructure budget, which funds housing, needed to stop, and the department agreed with it. Although it was agreed that the department

Finance committee  There are other financial things. There has not been an inflation adjustment for many years. Also for prevention services, it's done by a formula base, and we argued that it should be increased from $100, where it was set in 1989 and never increased, to a value of a minimum of $2