Between June 14 and18, the Federal Court will hear the federal government\u2019s applications for judicial review of two Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders<\/a>. Canada\u2019s position runs at cross purposes with two of the top three Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s Calls to Action: child welfare and Jordan\u2019s Principle.<\/p>\n The first order the federal government is challenging was issued in September 2019. The CHRT ordered the federal government<\/a> to pay a total of $40,000 to First Nations children living on reserve who were denied equal child and family services. The tribunal said: \u201cCanada\u2019s conduct was willful and reckless resulting in what we have referred to as a worst-case scenario under our Act.\u201d<\/p>\n The second CHRT order<\/a> being challenged, from 2020, was to ensure First Nations children offreserve are covered by Jordan\u2019s Principle. This principle requires governments to ensure First Nations kids get the public services they need, when they need them and not suffer because of intergovernmental squabbling over jurisdiction.<\/p>\n Although I have been working on First Nations children\u2019s equity for over 30 years, I still can\u2019t understand why the government keeps choosing to fight to do the wrong thing. While sorting through my papers in the midst of the lockdown, I found some answers. They were in an old copy of some speaking notes given to me by Gerry Gambill, a self-described \u201cnon-Indian\u201d working in the Department of Indian Affairs. Gambill had put together the notes for a human-rights conference talk at Tobique First Nation<\/a> in 1958. They were titled \u201cStealing Indian Human Rights.\u201d<\/p>\n With a few tweaks in language, this document reads like the 2021 roadmap used by Canada towards First Nations children today.<\/p>\n \u201cMake him (the Indian) a non-person. Human rights are for people. Convince the Indians that their ancestors are savages, that they were pagan, that Indians are drunkards. Make them wards of the government. Make a legal distinction as in the Indian Act between Indians and persons. Write history books that tell half the story.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Canada delivered its toxic potion of misinformation to the Canadian public with precision. It left generations of Canadians in the dark while residential schools went about the work of trying to erase First Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit peoples using whatever means it deemed necessary, including abuse and neglect.<\/p>\n Next week, the Canadian government will argue in court<\/a> that First Nations children without Indian Act status (yes that Indian Act is still on the books) are not covered by Jordan\u2019s Principle. Canada argues that children who are recognized by their First Nations but who do not have Indian Act status should not get help under Jordan\u2019s Principle. To rub salt into the wound, Canada weaponizes First Nations adults by saying the reason they are judicially reviewing the order is so they can talk to First Nations even though we are just across the courtroom from them opposing their arguments.<\/p>\n \u201cConvince the Indian that he should be patient, that these things take time. Tell him that we are making progress and progress takes time<\/em><\/strong> and make him believe things are being done for his own good <\/em>and set yourself up as a protector of the Indian\u2019s human rights.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Canada is saying it wants to overturn the CHRT\u2019s order around compensation for children because it wants \u201cfair\u201d compensation. The federal government is trying to weaponize First Nations adults against our own children by saying they need to \u201ctalk\u201d to First Nations before compensating the kids. All of this ignores that not one First Nation has intervened to support the Attorney General of Canada in the Federal Court application, and is opposed by the Assembly of First Nations, the Chiefs of Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International. If they want to talk to us, we are right across the courtroom from them.<\/p>\n The government will say that systemic discrimination does not entitle First Nations children (and most are still children) to individual compensation. That dark-age type thinking would mean that the families of Joyce Echaquan, George Floyd and others ought not to receive compensation for the horrendous harms done to them \u2013 it is a morally bereft argument intended to avoid government accountability.<\/p>\n Thankfully, the Canadian public is becoming increasingly informed and outraged, prompting the House of Commons to unanimously pass a resolution<\/a> requiring Canada to stop litigating against residential school survivors and Indigenous children and move swiftly to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s Calls to Action. The prime minister and the cabinet abstained, and Canada has not withdrawn its legal action against First Nations children.<\/p>\n \u201cMake the situation appear more complicated than is necessary.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Think about the lack of progress on getting clean water to First Nations communities. Canada uses the complicated argument all the time, even blaming construction delays on COVID-19. I live in Ottawa, and I can tell you that construction on the Parliament Buildings never stopped during the pandemic.<\/p>\n What about the remoteness argument? Well, the International Space Station with a population of six has clean drinking water. Responding to constituent concerns about Canada\u2019s upcoming litigation against First Nations children, Liberal Member of Parliament Julie Dzerowicz\u2019s circular noted, \u201cOn legal matters, kindly know we are not taking Indigenous children to court. This is hard to explain and rather technical, but I will try.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMake the Indian believe you are working hard for him, putting in much overtime and at a great sacrifice, and imply that he should be appreciative. This is the ultimate in skills in stealing human rights: when you obtain the thanks of your victim.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Consider this exchange between APTN reporter Jamie Pashagumskum and the prime minister<\/a> on June 4, 2021, regarding a separate class action proceeding that is seeking to provide compensation to some of the same children:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Jamie Pashagumskum: \u201cNow, the Canadian government is currently excluding thousands of First Nations families from settlement talks in a class action that deals with the underfunding of the child welfare system and Jordan\u2019s Principle. This is because the Crown believes it can beat them in court based on legal technicalities. And you said time and time again, that nothing is more important to Canada than its relationship with indigenous people. As a gesture of reconciliation, and I know we\u2019ve heard that term thrown around a lot here, this past week, will you reverse this position and include these plaintiffs in the settlement talks?\u201d<\/p>\n Justin Trudeau: \u201cThank you very much for your question. Let me first be very clear, we are not fighting indigenous kids in court, regardless of what political opponents may say. We have been working clearly and collaboratively with Indigenous organizations and leadership across the country, on the harm that has been done over the past many years to far too many indigenous kids, now adults, in the child and family services system. We have recognized from the very beginning that those Canadian, those Indigenous Peoples, are worthy of compensation, and we will be compensating them. The questions and discussions ongoing with the communities and the leadership is about what the right level of compensation for different groups in different communities are, and those conversations are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHold a conference on Human Rights, have everyone blow off steam and tension, and go home feeling that things are well in hand.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Canada has mastered this one over time frequently using commissions, inquiries and reports to mask its choices to not implement solutions to fix the problems that are already on the books. Canada\u2019s response<\/a> to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls<\/em> is a prime example. The federal government waited two years to issue any response, and when Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett finally responded this week, it amounted to a plan to make a plan with, of course, a need to \u201cengage\u201d with \u201cpartners.\u201d<\/p>\n The problem is that women and girls continue to go missing and Canada\u2019s spineless response to the MMIWG\u2019s detailed Calls to Justice does little to prevent what the MMIWG report called genocide from continuing.<\/p>\n \u201cConsult the Indian, but do not act on the basis of what you hear. <\/em><\/strong>Tell the Indian he has a voice and go through the motions of listening. Then interpret what you have heard to suit your own needs.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In the midst of being forced to increase funding First Nations child and family services and to comply with Jordan\u2019s Principle, Canada decided it was time to affirm First Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit jurisdiction over child and family services<\/a> (through the \u201cAct respecting First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis children, youth and families\u201d). It included the caveat that the tribunal\u2019s orders to ensure substantive equity in First Nations child and family services would no longer apply to the federal government if jurisdiction was drawn down by First Nations. Canada says it \u201cengaged\u201d with \u201cstakeholders and partners\u201d in the \u201cco-development\u201d<\/a> of the Act. It does not mention the many Indigenous peoples who expressed serious concern about the absence of a clear funding obligation and other weaknesses in the Act<\/a>. Indigenous jurisdiction over children\u2019s services is important but without adequate funding it will be just another paper tiger.<\/p>\n The antidote to all of Canada\u2019s strategies for \u201cStealing Indian Human Rights\u201d is for the Canadian public to see through government bafflegab and keep an eye on what does and hold it accountable for implementing the solutions that are already on the books like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s Calls to Action, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls to Justice, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders and the House of Commons motion to stop fighting Indigenous children and residential school survivors in court. And what about getting rid of the racist Indian Act? Good idea, and in 1996 the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples released a 20-year road map to do just that. Canada did not implement it.<\/p>\n The government has proven that it will choose to violate First Nations children\u2019s rights versus accepting accountability for its conduct. Members of the Public need to become the new MPs and let elected officials of all parties know that we have learned the truth from Indigenous Peoples, and we will hold them accountable for action.<\/p>\n The best way to honour the 215 sacred children buried in Kamloops and other Indian residential schools, the survivors and the Indigenous children who died owing to Canada\u2019s ongoing discrimination, is to seek justice for them. Let\u2019s get to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two hundred and fifteen children were buried in unmarked graves on the grounds of the Kamloops Residential School, which was operated by Canada and run by the Catholic Church. They likely died alone, away from their families and in very scary circumstances. Generations later, the actions of Canadian governments continue to hurt First Nations children. 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