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

N.A.

• The Government of Canada is committed to reforming the First Nations Child and Family Services Program, to addressing the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s 2016 decision and subsequent orders, and to improving the lives and outcomes of First Nations children and families living on-reserve and in the Yukon.

• Canada is reviewing the CHRT’s recent decision and considering next steps, so that a path to long-term reform can be drawn.

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 hearing is likely to be scheduled for the fall, with a decision to follow that.

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.

On August 20, 2025, the CHRT issued its 2025 CHRT 80 decision in which it has asked for a plan on long-term reform of the FNCFS Program by December 22, 2025. In response, Canada submitted a letter to the CHRT on August 29 seeking clarification of its decisions and is awaiting the CHRT’s response.

If pressed on Canada’s plan in light of the CHRT’s latest decision (2025 CHRT 80):

• Canada is reviewing the CHRT’s recent decision and considering next steps, so that a path to long-term reform can be drawn.