Canada’s December 10, 2024 Report to the CHRT re Jordan’s Principle Non-Compliance Summary Ruling

Press Release

December 10, 2024

We write on behalf of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) with Canada’s report to the Tribunal, as required by the November 21, 2024 Summary Ruling. This letter shares ISC’s concerns with the some of the deadlines set out in the Summary Ruling, as well as the important steps ISC is taking to address the existing backlog of Jordan’s Principle requests, with a focus on urgent requests.

This letter also provides Canada’s initial response to the Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN) December 9, 2024 request for an extension of the commencement of the Tribunal’s Summary Ruling orders to March 31, 2025. ISC acknowledges AFN’s request and respects the need for time to address internal matters. ISC does not take a position on delaying the start of the ordered consultations to April, 2025. Due to the urgent nature of the Tribunal’s orders and the focus currently on interim solutions, rather than the long-term reform, ISC affirms its readiness to begin Tribunal-mediated consultations.

Introduction

Canada remains committed to Jordan’s Principle and honouring the memory and legacy of Jordan River Anderson. ISC is approaching the Tribunal’s orders in a manner that continues the progress Canada has made in the implementation of the Jordan’s Principle initiative. Canada is focused on strengthening reconciliation and building on its collaborative relationships with First Nations mandated service organizations.

In the November 21 Summary Ruling, the Tribunal made a series of orders requiring Canada to complete various tasks on strict deadlines. On December 4, 2024, Canada wrote to the

Tribunal expressing concerns with some of the deadlines within the Summary Ruling. In particular, ISC is concerned that the timelines to address the backlog of Jordan’s Principle requests could have unintended impacts on delivering critical services to First Nations children and families and is not operationally feasible. As described below, ISC proposes a solutions-based path forward that addresses concerns and works towards a resolution of backlogged requests, without unintended consequences to First Nations children, their families, and the delivery of other essential services to Indigenous communities across Canada.

Canada’s specific concerns with the ordered deadlines

ISC’s first priority is to identify and process urgent requests, then clear all backlogged requests. This work is taking place as ISC continues to receive and assess a high number of new requests on a daily basis. As of December 4, 2024, and as set out in Annex A, there are approximately 140,000 backlogged requests, including approximately 25,000 self-identified urgent cases.

ISC is reviewing all self-declared urgent requests on a priority basis. However, the Tribunal’s order that ISC complete the review, triage and reclassify the backlog by December 10, 2024, while continuing to respond to incoming requests, would have required diverting significant resources from other ISC essential programs. This would jeopardize the overall delivery of services to Indigenous Peoples across Canada within ISC’s mandate.

The order that ISC return back to the Tribunal with its detailed plan, with targets and deadlines, is similarly challenging. The plan will require complex operational changes to criteria and processes across a large and decentralized national initiative. Such changes require careful planning. Changes in processes to triage the high volume of requests and implement new decision-making processes requires sufficient time for ISC to:

• ensure that those responsible for assessing requests and managing internal processes are properly trained and informed of the Tribunal’s interim definition;
• adapt systems and operating practices;
• communicate with First Nations communities and other partners.

At this time, and taking into account the unpredictable number of new daily requests, ISC is unable to estimate the timeframe in which all backlogged requests will be cleared. However, we anticipate that via Tribunal-assisted mediation, the parties will co-develop solutions to reduce and eventually eliminate the backlogged requests. This will include considering Tribunal direction to co-develop objective criteria for urgency, including the criteria and guidelines for cases involving no access to basic necessities, cases involving caregivers and children fleeing from domestic violence, and the criteria for qualified professionals.

Current/Immediate Steps being taken by ISC to address the backlog

Notwithstanding the concerns raised above, ISC has taken important steps to address urgent backlogged requests in anticipation of Tribunal-assisted mediation towards co-development of efficient and effective solutions to reduce and eventually eliminate the backlog within the government context.

In the meantime, and to ensure ISC is responsive to time sensitive situations, each region has developed internal triaging processes to identify and address cases where a failure to act immediately could result in irremediable harm to the First Nations child. Additionally, Canada has in place a system for identifying urgent requests as they are submitted through the Jordan’s Principle Case Management System (CMS).

For great certainty, ISC will continue to process urgent requests where there is a possibility of irremediable harm to the First Nations child. Where First Nations children are in an emergency situation and/or are at immediate risk of harm, Call Centre Agents are equipped with a detailed list of services to support callers. This list includes emergency services (police, fire, ambulance), mental health supports, and other regional specific resources and contribution agreements. This list is shared with all regional teams.

In response to the Tribunal’s request for information on how backlogged requests are being addressed generally:

1. Request for information identifying the total number of currently backlogged cases: Annex A to this report provides, as of December 6, 2024, the total number of backlogged cases both nationally and in each region, including intake backlog, in-progress backlog, and information regarding the cumulative number of backlogged cases at month’s end, dating back 12 months.
2. Immediate steps taken by Canada to address existing urgent requests based on the following interim definition: To the extent products, services, or supports requested through Jordan’s Principle are linked to the child’s specific urgent circumstances, Canada is currently applying the Tribunal’s interim definition of urgent, pending the outcome of Tribunal-assisted mediation.

By December 10, 2024, the following steps to address the backlogged requests have been completed by ISC or are in progress:

• Communicated this interim definition directly with intake staff to be applied to backlogged requests;
• Provided staff with the discretion to make determinations on the urgency of a request, and re-classify requests appropriately that do not meet the interim definition;
• Initiated updates to the ISC website to communicate the interim definition of urgent with the public and which will invite requestors to contact ISC;
• Updated the National Call Centre script to provide staff the tools to respond to enquiries.

3. Regional Delegation of Authority: To further reduce backlogged requests, ISC is revising internal policies to reduce request escalation to National Headquarters and permitting regional decision-makers more discretion to make decisions on Jordan’s Principle requests. This step will reduce the wait-times for requestors and reduce unnecessary delays caused by multiple levels of decision-making.

National Headquarters will act as a ‘Centre of Expertise and Quality Control and Assurance’, to assess and determine requests that are complex, multi-dimensional and inconsistent with the application of eligibility criteria, thus considered an “exceptional case”. This will enable a dedicated decision-maker at National Headquarters to assess more complex requests.

4. Confirming Reimbursement process: In the 2024 fiscal year, Jordan’s Principle has already made 65,681 payments between April 1st and October 31st, 2024. ISC has projected that 152,000 payments will be made by year-end. While 92.6% of these payments are issued efficiently via direct deposit, meeting the 15-business day processing standard has been challenging. Currently, only 26.1% of requests are processed within the 15 business day timeframe, with 44.5% processed within 30-business days as a result of the high volume of requests and complexity. ISC is working directly with First Nations parties to find solutions to issues that arise and to ensure the accuracy of information from requestors in a timely way. This includes ensuring requestors provide supporting invoices, and establishing practices and procedures to ensure that the necessary information can be provided and transmitted in a form that can be readily processed by Canda’s financial system.
5. Reimbursement process to ensure timely payment: ISC works to process all payments within 15 business days. To assist with faster reimbursement, ISC adjusted its policy on acquisition card thresholds for one-time transactions from $5,000 to $10,000, and for emergency travel from $5,000 to $20,000 per transaction. These policy adjustments enable intake officers to grant access for one-time transactions and emergency travel immediately for requests that fall within the new threshold. Work is also underway with internal control teams to enhance the efficiency of its payment processes including streamlining workflows, identifying and eliminating unnecessary steps in the payment process, and improving communication.1

• As described in the Affidavit of Dr. Valerie Gideon affirmed on March 21, 2024.

ISC is exploring ways to expedite its reimbursement and payment timelines. While there are no current guidelines or formal process in place, ISC looks forward to discussing the issue further at Tribunal assisted mediation.

For the Tribunal’s broader information, this ISC initiative faces growing challenges with reimbursements as the volume of requests and corresponding payments has surged by 311% over the last five (5) fiscal years. As set out in the list below, payments (including payments relating to requests that would not cause irremediable harm) have increase from 26,153 in the 2019-2020 fiscal year to 107,548 in the 2023-2024 fiscal year:

• FY2019-20: 26,153 payments
• FY2020-21: 28,270 payments
• FY2021-22: 44,314 payments
• FY2022-23: 71,860 payments
• FY2023-24: 107,548 payments

6. Review and determination of urgent requests during and outside business hours: Canada confirms that requestors have access to staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and

• days a year. ISC staff processing requests have the authority to review and determine urgent requests both during and outside business hours.

7. Website information:

Information relating to the availability of staff to process and make decisions on urgent requests can be found online on the ISC website here: Indigenous Services Canada – Canada.ca. The information is clearly presented, with sections that link to specific areas including who and how to send a request, the forms required, processing requests, requesting a reimbursement, and receiving payments. The contact information for all Jordan’s Principle focal points in each region is clearly identified on the ISC website. In the event a person experiences difficulties reaching the focal point or requires immediate assistance, the ISC website also provides the contact information of the Jordan’s Principle Call Centre: 1-855-JP-CHILD (1-588-572-4453); teletypewriting: 1-866-553-0554.

ISC confirms that its website is up to date and reflects the hours of operation and contact information for each regional office for the submission of Jordan’s Principle requests or to inquire about payments. The contact information on the ISC website is shared on Jordan’s Principle social media when applicable.

8. Appeal Process: ISC has confirmed that it is working to streamline its appeal process to share processes, review training, and modify roles and responsibilities. This work will

support consistent decision-making while ensuring the review of each case individually and the independence of the appeals processes.

Plan to Address Backlog

ISC has developed and is implementing the following actions in accordance with the Tribunal’s orders to triage all backlogged cases that includes a review of requests that were self-identified as urgent:

2024. Reassignment of existing resources: ISC has immediately reassigned existing Jordan’s Principle resources to a surge team to focus on urgent requests, to the degree that ISC is able to do so without adversely impacting other services to Indigenous communities across Canada. Training materials and a communications plan are now complete, and ISC is holding a FAQ session for ISC staff on how to use their Case Management System (CMS) to reclassify urgent items as of December 4, 2024. ISC will continue to focus its resources on the intake and adjudication of new urgent requests to prevent the backlog from continuing to increase. The immediate focus will be on the review of urgent requests, the adjudication of deemed-urgent requests, and contacting requestors with unresolved deemed-urgent requests. The focus of the headquarters operational team will be on data cleanup to speed up request processing (i.e. merging of duplicate records). Regional operational teams will focus on averting further increases to backlogged requests. ISC projects that the data clean will be completed by February 28, 2025.

1. ISC is concurrently focusing on service delivery and design. ISC is continuing to identify, evaluate and implement Information Technology (IT) options that will speed up request processing to include a Jordan’s Principle external facing portal for Jordan’s Principle service coordinators, and eventually to all Jordan’s Principle requestors. ISC will continue to evaluate options to support the semi-automated notification to requestors as well as the use of potential new technology such as Generative Artificial Intelligence. ISC will apply a service design and delivery lens to current process and resource allocation to identify opportunities for more effective and efficient service delivery. One of the IT options currently being explored includes the application of algorithms to identify urgency based on the interim definition of urgency, with the aim of prioritizing new urgent cases above all others in the system.

1. Re-classification of self-determined urgent requests: There are currently approximately 25,000 urgent requests in the backlog. ISC will conduct a system review using key words, timeframes, and types of requests to determine urgency of a request. More specifically, ISC will review most recent to oldest urgent cases to ensure ‘urgent’ under the interim definition are addressed as a priority. ISC will prioritize the review of self-declared urgent requests in the backlog, and commit to communicating with the

requestor immediately after having reviewed their request (i.e., with a decision, interim measures and/or seek additional information to support adjudication, as required).

Each region has its own triage processes to identify and address cases where a failure to act immediately could result in irremediable harm to the child.

1. Communications of determinations to requestors to follow initial review of urgent backlog: Decisions will be communicated to requestors according to existing practices. The methodology for approval may be made by category, existing program and/or service that is not addressing the distinct needs of the First Nations child and families, and the application of substantive equality. It is also expected that there will be cases that requestors self-identified as urgent that do not meet the interim definition of urgent. Moreover, other requests may require additional information given their complexity. Therefore, communication and decision-making will occur on a case-by-case basis to determine the classification of these requests. For greater certainty, the communication to requestors with confirmed urgent cases would be either: i) a decision on their request, or ii) where a decision cannot be made immediately, ISC will identify interim measures to address any reasonably foreseeable irremediable harms that would be beneficial to the child and request additional information to support adjudication.

1. Communications with Requestors on Decision: ISC communicates decisions to requestors letter or email, depending on how the request was submitted. ISC will conduct a maximum of three contact attempts per request. As noted above, with regional Jordan’s Principle staff having the discretion to determine cases, the speed of communications with requestors will increase.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide this report to the Tribunal and the parties. ISC hopes to work with the parties through Tribunal-assisted mediation on these matters.

Sincerely,

Dayna Anderson

General Counsel

Encl: Annex A – Status Report on Operational Backlogs: Jordan’s Principle (December 2024)

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