Question Period Note: Long-Term Reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program

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• Canada is committed to reforming the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. A tentative agreement worth over $47 billion over ten years, was rejected by the First Nations-in-Assembly in October of 2024.
• At this time, Canada is focused on supporting the nine-year, landmark $8.5 billion agreement reached with the Chiefs of Ontario and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation to reform the program for First Nations in Ontario, and on obtaining the approval of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
• Canada continues to consider the best approach to reforming the Program in the rest of the country.

• Starting in January 2024, the Government of Canada and the Parties began intensive negotiations towards an agreement on a reformed FNCFS Program. The Caring Society formally withdrew its participation from the negotiation process in February 2024, following its December 19, 2023, non-compliance motion filed before the CHRT with respect to Canada’s implementation of the CHRT’s Jordan’s Principle orders.
• On October 17, 2024, at a Special Chiefs Assembly held in Calgary, the Chiefs rejected the Agreement and instructed the AFN to take a new approach to negotiating a new final agreement.
• On February 26, 2025, the Chiefs of Ontario (COO), Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and Canada signed a $8.5 billion agreement to reform the First Nations Child and Family Services Program in Ontario, alongside the Trilateral Agreement in Respect of Reforming the 1965 Agreement.
• COO, NAN and Canada are seeking the Tribunal’s approval of the Ontario Final Agreement and are preparing for its implementation if and when it is approved. A decision is not likely until fall at earliest.
• There is currently no mandate to negotiate long-term reform of the FNCFS Program outside of Ontario, and the current financial mandate is no longer adequate to support the long-term reform agreement that was rejected by the First Nations-in-Assembly in October 2024.

If pressed on why the Government of Canada is not renegotiating the Final Agreement with the rest of the country based on the resolutions adopted at the AFN Special Chiefs’ Assembly:
• This Government is committed to working in true partnership with Indigenous Peoples to continue the vital work of advancing reconciliation.
• I look forward to working with all parties in good faith to support the well-being and safety of First Nations children, youth, young adults, families and communities.
• Every child deserves to grow up connected to their culture, language and community. This leads to better outcomes for children; for families; and for communities.