Manitoba First Nations leaders gathered April 14 to discuss their concerns about a new bill they say would stop children in care from being able to sue the provincial government.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc. (MKO), the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) and the Southern Chiefs' Organization (SCO) are especially troubled with section 8 of Bill 34: The Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act, which sets out to legally end the ability of current and former children in care to sue the Manitoba government for clawing back their monthly Children’s Special Allowance (CSA).
The allowance is equal to the maximum Canada Child Benefit Payment and the Child Disability Benefit and these organizations have estimated that the province has taken $250 million from Indigenous children in care.
MMF President David Chartrand said the bill is wrong and Manitobans should be concerned.
“I can’t believe this is happening in Canada, especially in this province,” he said at the press conference.
“If this is happening to other children, it would not be tolerated, so it should not be tolerated when it’s happening to Indigenous children,” he added.
MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee said the bill should not be accepted as it is written because it leaves the most vulnerable in our society as victims.
“This is an atrocity committed at the highest level in the province of Manitoba,” he said
“I do not think we should stand by and allow this to happen. We should spare no effort to make sure this bill does not impact the children,” he added.
SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said our most vulnerable people should not be exploited in this way.
“Children’s money has been taken away over the last decade and now they are trying to create a law to legitimize the process.
“I hope Manitobans wake up and see what is going on here,” he said.
Lawyer Sonny Cochrane said two lawsuits have been filed on behalf of Indigenous children but they will be dismissed if Bill 34 is passed.
“There is no way that this is fair or consistent to our system of justice.
“What they are doing is retroactively dismissing cases that are already filed against the province,” he said.
The organizations have reached out to several provincial leaders as well as the premier on this issue.
The province says that while the money isn’t being distributed directly, it's being returned as part of a “single-envelope” funding program.
“Requiring that authorities and agencies remit the Children’s Special Allowance back to the province is a historical practice of the previous NDP government, and this legislation allows us to move past that practice,” said Families Minister Heather Stefanson in an email to the Winnipeg Sun. “Single envelope funding will provide over $400 million to the authorities and their agencies in 2020-21 – that is a $15-million increase compared to what they received before single envelope funding was introduced. Our 2017 funding pilot project involving eight CFS agencies resulted in an 18 per cent decrease in the number of children entering CFS care, and we are confident that similar results will be replicated throughout our province in the coming months and years.”
— Nicole Wong covers northern and Indigenous issues for the Winnipeg Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.
