Tribunal approves $8.5-billion deal for Ontario First Nations to lead their own child welfare

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, shown at a news conference in June 2025, said the agreement includes a new funding formula to determine specific costs for child welfare service delivery in the remote north.

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has approved an $8.5-billion agreement that will give First Nations in Ontario authority to lead their own children and family services in a long-term deal with the federal government. This is the first regional agreement to be finalized in a 20-year battle for equitable child welfare services for First Nations across the country.

The fight started in 2006 when the First Nations Caring Society argued the federal government was discriminating against Indigenous children by underfunding them. “First Nations in Ontario are ready, and they have chosen to exercise their right to self-determination by requesting this agreement,” read a letter from the tribunal dated Monday.

Claimants in First Nations child welfare case start receiving payments In its expedited decision, the tribunal emphasized that First Nations have always been the best option to care for their own children. “The concept of the ‘best interests of the child’ has too often been used to justify oppression, removal, and control, while imposing non-Indigenous perspectives on Indigenous Peoples,” read the decision.

“For this reason, the Tribunal has consistently emphasized that the best interests of the child must be understood and applied through an Indigenous lens to avoid repeating history.” The tribunal went on to say that the “unnecessary” removal of children from their families and communities qualified as the “worst harm.” The agreement includes funding for capital, support for children once they reach the age of majority, and prevention efforts.

The deal also includes $258-million for housing infrastructure designed to keep children safe in their own homes, the minister said.

Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty said in a press release that the agreement 'will support First Nations in exercising their right to care for their own children.' Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal sided with the First Nations Caring Society and ordered the government to end its discrimination against First Nations children and families.

The parties have since negotiated a $23-billion compensation package for 300,000 First Nations children and adults across the country that began to roll out last year. Ontario First Nations leaders in 2024 pushed Assembly of First Nations chiefs to accept a $48-billion offer to reform child welfare services, negotiated by the AFN, Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and Indigenous Services Canada, on behalf of all First Nations.

Ultimately the AFN chiefs rejected the offer, holding out for a larger investment and a clearer commitment. The Chiefs of Ontario and Nishnawbe Aski Nation then moved forward with their own negotiations.

Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty said in a press release Monday the Ontario agreement “will support First Nations in exercising their right to care for their own children – by strengthening prevention-focused services, supporting families, and enabling communities to design and deliver programs rooted in their own laws, cultures, languages, and priorities.” The tribunal said the agreement satisfies its order to end Canada’s discrimination against First Nations children and families by giving control and jurisdiction to the First Nations in Ontario.

Tanya Talaga: Truth and reconciliation, 10 years later: Education got us into this mess. Will it get us out? Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said in a press conference in Toronto that the agreement includes a new funding formula to determine specific costs for child welfare service delivery in the remote north.

“We want to also apply that to education and health and capital,” Mr. Fiddler said. National Chief Cin…