Exploring Theme: "Bill C-92"

First Nations leaders say they are being “gagged” by the federal government because it’s asking them to sign confidentiality agreements before Ottawa will negotiate funding deals under Canada’s new child and family welfare law. Toronto Star: OTTAWA — First Nations leaders say they are being “gagged” by the federal government because it’s asking them to...

APTN News: A First Nation in British Columbia First is taking matters into its own hands after what leaders say has been a lack of commitment from the federal government to help them take full jurisdiction over child and family services. Sts’ailes, a Coast Salish First Nation has been working with Ottawa for years to implement...

High court is expected to weigh in on self-government in potentially landmark opinion CBC Indigenous: It’ll be a pivotal decision either way. Indigenous people across the country are bracing for a potentially landmark opinion from the Supreme Court of Canada, which will decide Friday whether the Trudeau government’s Indigenous child welfare law is constitutional. Indigenous leaders...

NationTalk: Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) has started a Judicial Review against the Minister of Indigenous Services to exercise jurisdiction over Métis child and family services. Canada is denying MNBC an opportunity to design and deliver child and family service solutions that best suit the needs of Métis kids in BC, saying MNBC does not...

Two cases could establish who has the right to decide what’s best for Indigenous kids in North America CBC NEWS: The highest courts in Canada and the United States are expected to decide child welfare cases this year that could have far-reaching implications for Indigenous rights on both sides of the border. In Brackeen v. Haaland,...

CBC News: N.W.T. government leaders are defending a decision by the territory’s attorney general to join a Supreme Court of Canada challenge of the federal law that gives Indigenous governments power to control their own child and family services. That law includes a provision that Indigenous law prevails in disputes with a province or territory. The Northwest...

NationTalk: (Ottawa, ON) – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced today that it continues to stand with First Nations in Quebec and all First Nations’ who exercise their inherent jurisdiction over child and family law. First Nations interveners, including the AFN, will appear in a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada to support...

In the following post, my colleague Kate Gunn provides an overview of Quebec’s challenge of Bill C-92 at the Supreme Court and what it means for Indigenous Peoples’ ability to make decisions based on their inherent laws.  First Peoples Law Report: Persistent uncertainty regarding the extent to which governments in Canada are prepared to recognize...

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced today that it stands with First Nations in Quebec and all First Nations’ jurisdiction over child and family law. “Taking the Act to the Supreme Court presents an opportunity for the full recognition and affirmation of First Nations Inherent rights, as well as the exercise of this jurisdiction,...

CBC – The Quebec Court of Appeal issued a decision yesterday finding the law constitutional apart from two key sections that relate to Aboriginal self-government and child and family services that it ruled are unconstitutional. The court took issue with the section of the law that allows Indigenous child welfare laws to supersede provincial laws...

The Court of Appeal of Québec ruled on Feb. 10, 2022 that Bill C-92 “is constitutional, except for ss. 21 and 22(3), which are not”. These sections deal with the right of Aboriginal self-government and the regulation of Child and Family Services. As Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, professor of law at the Peter Allard School of Law at...

Toronto Star – A First Nation in Alberta says it’s been nearly three months since it was supposed to take legal control of its own child welfare but the provincial government won’t recognize the arrangement made possible by federal legislation. “(Alberta) won’t recognize it at all. They won’t sign co-ordination agreements,” said Darin Keewatin, executive...

The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – presented a joint brief to the Laurent Commission (Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection) aimed in particular at reaffirming the rights of First Nations to decide on the future and...

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde says the Government of Quebec’s decision to request that the Quebec Court of Appeal rule on the constitutionality of Bill C-92, the Indigenous child welfare act, is a setback that will further harm First Nations children and families. This move could lead to delay and conflict,...

“Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit children, youth and families” was graded as follows by the Yellowhead Institute of Ryerson University based on analysis by five Indigenous legal scholars. (See also First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Information Brief in C2A # 4) GRADES: National Standards: …………………… C Funding: ……………………………………..F...