AFN Rebukes Prentice Over Child Welfare Issue
Friday, February 09, 2007 at 14:55
The Assembly of First Nations is not happy with the response it’s getting from Ottawa over concerns about the funding of Native child welfare services.
AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine recently announced that his group is considering filing a human rights complaint over the amount of funding First Nations agencies get, in comparison to non-Native agencies.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice indicated he wouldn’t be raising funding levels for First Nations Child and Family Services — especially since funding increases by 11 per cent annually.
But Fontaine says funding hikes for the operational component of the budget is capped at 2 per cent a year.
He says increases here would enable Native agencies to engage in prevention services — and raise the quality of protective care.
Fontaine is also upset that Prentice is insisting there are only 9,000 First Nations children in foster care, much less than the 27,000 claimed by the AFN.
The national chief says the AFN’s numbers include off-reserve First Nations children.