Thank you so much.
I want to clarify. It's often said that it's at the pace at which communities want to go. I want to clarify that it's not really at that pace. I don't think we've ever not wanted jurisdiction over our kids. It's about the funding and resources that are provided to give back our human rights and to uphold UNDRIP so that we can care for our kids.
In the fall economic statement and the 2023-24 departmental plan, sunset of funding includes that in budget 2021 for mental health and wellness, and specifically funding from budget 2019 for continued implementation of Jordan's principle and supporting Inuit children, and funding to support individual compensation, capital expenditures, and immediate reforms of first nations child and family services and Jordan's principle.
What I find odd, when we talk about Bill C-92, is that there are still no plans for money. Jordan's principle keeps kids alive in my community, even though it's not often provided or given out in a timely manner in terms of service providers. That is sunsetting.
I've put forward amendments to EI to make sure that EI regimes would be consistent with how we choose to care for our children, which is a right affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It seems there's no consistency with this government in terms of when it is or isn't going to uphold the rule of law when it comes to indigenous human rights, particularly in relation to our children, depending on what the legislation is.
What concerns me is this. If there isn't a plan for total legislative reform, is this government really serious about implementing UNDRIP? We can't change things if people don't want to pay for that. There is a cost to violent colonization. One of the costs of that violence is the fact that we have an overrepresentation in the child welfare system.
Is there any plan to make sure legislation is consistent to affirm our right to have self-determination over the care of our children, whether in terms of EI, Jordan's principle or Bill C-92?