AFN’s December 9, 2024 Letter to The CHRT re Jordan’s Principle Non-Compliance Motion
Press Release
We write to you today on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations (“AFN”) in response to the Panel’s November 21, 2024, summary ruling with respect to the motion and cross-motion on Jordan’s Principle’s implementation, as well as the Panel and Chairperson’s follow up to the parties dated December 5 and December 6, 2024.
As the Panel may be aware, the AFN had been extensively engaged with respect to the negotiation of a Final Settlement Agreement (“FSA”) on the long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. The FSA was presented to the First Nations-in-Assembly at a Special Chiefs Assembly called for the purposes of its consideration. The FSA was ultimately rejected. The Chiefs took issue with the negotiation process and its settlement privileged nature, as well as a desire to seek a revised mandate from Canada to address issues including, but not limited to, funding for off-reserve children not covered by the FNCFS Program, the indefinite continuation of the actuals process, allocation of prevention funding to FNCFS agencies, as well as the indeterminate oversight of the CHRT over the implementation of any Final Agreement.
We attach resolution 60-2024 Addressing Long-Term Reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program and Jordan’s Principle and resolution 61-2024 Meaningful Consultation on Long- Term Reform of First Nations Child and Family Services hereto for your information, which we would note were strongly supported by the Caring Society further to their presentations at the October Special Chiefs Assembly in Calgary, and as recently as this past week during the AFN’s December Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa. At the December 2024 Special Chiefs Assembly, the Chiefs adopted Resolution 38, affirming their desire to move forward further to the mandates of resolutions 60 and 61-2024. Resolution 38, and an accompanying Resolution 41, speaking to the implementation of Resolutions 60 and 61-2024, will
not be officially available until formally ratified and signed by the National Chief, however we have included draft copies of same for the Panel’s consideration, along with emergency resolution 02-2024 which also has bearing on the AFN’s mandate on these proceedings moving forward.
The said resolutions also call for the establishment of a Children’s Chiefs Commission who would have oversight of the negotiations of all long-term reform agreements, extending both to long-term reform of the FNCFS Program and Jordan’s Principle. The Resolutions also call for a new legal team to support said Commission’s efforts. We understand that the Caring Society has been instrumental in crafting associated terms of reference relating to such efforts and should certainly be aware of the complexities with advancing same. Canada and the other parties have also been apprised of these revised AFN mandates and the state of negotiations generally at this time are in need of clarity, given the AFN has not received confirmation from Canada that they have a new negotiation mandate, along with the lack of clear source of funding to implement some aspects of these new resolutions.
As the AFN’s December Special Chiefs Assembly has just concluded this past week, the AFN must now take stock of the new mandates adopted therein and the interplay with resolutions 60/2024 and 61-2024. As said resolutions call for the creation of an entirely new entity, with a new negotiation and new legal team, the AFN is currently not in a position to move forward on this matter as set out in the Panel’s letter decision. The AFN must consider how the resolutions can ultimately be given effect. The resolutions are complex and will require significant consideration by the AFN with respect to their implementation, which includes issues relating to resourcing and staffing, which are further complicated by the AFN’s focus on this past week’s Special Chiefs Assembly and upcoming two week shut down for the holidays.
The AFN is therefore requesting that the Tribunal extend all timelines provided for in its summary ruling on the Jordan’s Principle non-compliance motion and cross-motion to commence on March 31, 2025 to give the AFN sufficient time to take the necessary action(s) to fully consider and work towards implementation of the aforementioned resolutions, further to the will of the Chiefs. We would stress that this request is not being undertaken lightly, however, in light of the scope of the resolutions and their potential impacts on AFN governance, resourcing and staffing, including the potential for the appointment of new legal counsel, it is essential that the AFN be provided with sufficient time to clarify its role and mandate in these proceedings moving forward.
The AFN certainly understands that time is critical in this matter- the backlog of cases, particularly with respect to urgent requests, and delays with respect to reimbursement remain of critical concern and the AFN would expect that Canada would continue to take all necessary action in the interim to continue to address these issues further to the Panel’s summary decision.
While moot in light of Canada’s position and our present consensus-based process, the AFN would also support the participation of the First Nations Leadership Council in the context of discussions relating to the interim solutions directed by the Tribunal in these matters. The AFN is also fully supportive of mediation with Member Harrington, once the AFN is in a position to participate in those discussions.
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In light of the aforementioned complexities and direction from the Chiefs, and involvement by some of the parties relating to their implementation, the AFN is hopeful that each of the parties will also agree to this needed and reasonable extension.
The AFN remains available to both the Panel and the parties to discuss this request, including the potential for a case management conference should the Panel feel it warranted.
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