Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families

The CBA’s Aboriginal, Child and Youth and Family sections call An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families a step in the right direction – but nonetheless a step with shortcomings and ambiguities that risk undermining its good intentions.

The Sections make recommendations to improve the bill, as follows:

1. consistent with the TRC’s Calls to Action and the orders of the CHRT, amend the Preamble in Bill C-92 to expressly commit the federal government to its role in providing predictable, stable, sustainable, needs-based and substantively equal funding for child and family services in Indigenous communities. 
2. replace the phrase “acknowledges the ongoing call for” with “commits to providing” in the second last clause of the Preamble. 
3. add reference to the independence of dispute resolution mechanisms contemplated in subsection 20(5). 
4. consistent with Articles 3, 6, 19, 30, 34, 35, 36 and 39 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), amend the Preamble and section 8 to refer to Parliament’s affirmation of the right of Indigenous children to physical, emotional and psychological safety, security and well-being. 
5. amend the Preamble to refer specifically to the federal government’s international obligations under the UNCRC and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as part of the federal government’s nation-to-nation commitments. 
6. amend the definition of “care provider” to exclude foster parents whose sole connection to an Indigenous child is by way of a child protection placement. 
7. amend subsection 10(3) to add continuity in the child’s care and the possible effect on the child of disruption of that continuity, and the effects on the child of delay in the final outcome of a case, as factors to consider in determining the best interests of an Indigenous child. 
8. amend subsection 10(3)(b) to specify that a child’s gender identity and expression be considered among the needs of the child in weighing “best interests.”

“Without amendments to address these important areas,” the Sections say, “Bill C-92 risks being at best little more than another hollow promise, and at worst an instrument for perpetuating further harm to another generation of Indigenous children.”

https://www.cba.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=f70fcef1-519d-4da4-b316-ea326e6105b5