Heather Bear and Carolyn Bennett. Photo courtesy of Manfred Joehnck.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett wants to chart a new course when it comes to on-reserve child and welfare services. Speaking in Regina today, she says the current system is not working, with more children in care now than during the residential school era.
To signal that change, she signed an agreement with the FSIN today, promising more First Nations control in the design and administration of programs for on-reserve children. She also committed $450,000 as a first step. It was welcome news to FSIN Vice Chief Heather Bear, who also took part in the signing.
“From our perspective, it’s a down payment,” she said. “We are just getting kick started here, we have our mandate that was laid out by the Assembly of Chiefs in May, and with our task force, we have some work to do.”
Bennett says the government is also committed to removing the inequity in funding for child and family services on-reserve. She says process is just as important as the money.
“This is a bottom-up way that communities know best and have been doing it for millennia,” she said. “It is the agency approach of kids in care that have been a real problem.”
Bennett is in Regina for the semi-annual Chiefs Assembly of the AFN. She is expected to make another announcement at that gathering tomorrow.
The convention will also get a progress report on the much maligned inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. That session will take place on Wednesday.
About 450 chiefs are in Regina for the three-day event.