First Nations leaders call for overhaul of negotiation process for child welfare reform deal

First Nations chiefs from across Canada are calling for a new negotiation process after voting to reject a settlement agreement on long-term reform of First Nations child and family services.

On Friday, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) wrapped up a three-day meeting in Calgary to debate a $47.8 billion agreement reached with Canada in July. 

After voting down a resolution Thursday to endorse the deal, chiefs passed a resolution Friday morning officially rejecting the settlement agreement and to overhaul the negotiation process.

"This resolution speaks to the desired process that we see as path forward to getting the final settlement agreement back on track, to address the flaws identified by regions across the country and to create fairer, more equitable, more open, transparent process," Khelsilem, council chairperson of the Squamish Nation in B.C., told the assembly.

The resolution passed with 186 votes in favour and seven opposed. There were 10 abstentions. 

The resolution directs the AFN executive committee to establish a national Children's Chiefs Commission with regional representation to provide direction and oversight of the long-term reform agreement negotiations.

It also directs the AFN to postpone any votes on settlement agreements until all First Nations have had at least 90 days to review them.

"This is a lesson," Khelsilem, who moved the resolution, told the assembly.

"For the Assembly of First Nations, for the staff and legal, for the advisors, for the portfolio holder who has worked on this file, this is the lesson: the way we got here is not the way we should have done this. There was a better way forward."

The new commission will establish a team responsible for carrying out the negotiations for the long-term reform agreement. A separate resolution passed on Friday directs the new commission to negotiate the draft settlement agreement.

It was passed with 179 votes in favour and six opposed. There were four abstentions.

The settlement agreement stems from a class-action lawsuit and a 2016 ruling from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that found Canada engaged in wilful and reckless discrimination against First Nations children and families on reserve and in Yukon by failing to provide them with the same level of child and family services provided elsewhere.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, called the vote "an important reset moment." The Caring Society was an original complainant at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

"It's a huge, huge responsibility that all of us now carry, and I'm feeling relieved seeing the direction from the chiefs this morning," said Blackstock.