Because the provinces have been occupying the field, section 88 will be a lever through which provinces could challenge, or others might insist that the provinces continue to have exclusive jurisdiction over children on reserve.
I have a concern that challenges will be brought. I don't think they ought to be brought, but they might be. As to their success, I think that if you revert to first principles, nothing goes more squarely to the heart of who a people is and to their Indianness than whether, how and to what extent they govern themselves as a people in relation to the care of their children. That is a core governmental function and if we're going to have self-determination in any iteration, then indigenous nations have to have the right to make laws and enforce them.
It's not just the authority to care for their children. It's the right to make laws and enforce them, including on an involuntary basis. I think section 88 ought not apply.