Yukon AFN regional chief 'cautiously optimistic' over $40B First Nations child welfare agreement

Yukon's Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Regional Chief Kluane Adamek said she's cautiously optimistic about the $40 billion agreement in principle announced earlier this week and said it does hold the potential to help heal intergenerational trauma.

Details of the agreement-in-principle to compensate First Nation Children and families impacted by Canada's child welfare systems were announced on Tuesday.

If approved, the financial settlement will be the largest of its kind in Canadian history. Half the money is to compensate the thousands of on-reserve children who received inadequate funding while in care, and the other half is to reform the system to ensure it doesn't happen again. The parties have until March 31 to finalize the agreement.

Compensation will be made available to First Nations children on-reserve and in the Yukon who were removed from their homes between April 1, 1991 and March 31, 2022. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in 2016 that $40,000 should be paid to each First Nations child unnecessarily placed in foster care.

'A step'

However, Adamek said while the settlement, if approved, has the potential to have a positive impact, it is not yet binding.

"It is a step," she said, and added "there's a long way to go."

"As we all know, reform requires system change, it requires legislative change, it requires policy change. Resources are a huge part of doing that work," she said.

Adamek said the change will also require some "really important, hard and heavy conversations" about how to support First Nations to fully take control "with respect to their children and the lives of their children here in the Yukon region."

"So, [I'm] cautiously optimistic about what this can look like. I'm very mindful that there's still work to be done before we get to that final agreement," she said.

Yukon part of agreement

Adamek also pointed out that the Yukon is unique in that there are settlement lands rather than reserves like many other parts of Canada. Because of that, she said it's prompted many questions from people in the territory about what the agreement means for Yukon First Nations.

"So, to be very clear, the Yukon region is included as part of the [agreement-in-principle]," she said, adding there's a lot more information that they're waiting to receive around eligibility.

While Adamek echoed the notion that there's "no amount amount of money that can make up for the wrongdoing," she said the compensation is a gesture and a step toward reparations.

She also said it could help in shifting the concept of apprehending children, to keeping children at home and in the community.

"I think is really exciting for our region," she said, adding "there's already been so much work done with respect to changing the system and changing the way that we look at child welfare."

"I'm also feeling like there's a lot of opportunity here. And that's going to require resources on the ground, and this agreement-in-principle, and the reform, could be really, really positive for our region."

'30 years in the making'

Adamek acknowledged work done by partners like the Council of Yukon First Nations and the Yukon Child and Family Services Act steering committee.

She called the agreement a move that was "30 years in the making."

For those who have been impacted before 1991, she said, work is still being done with legal partners to better understand what options may be available.

For this agreement, however, she said over the next few months, the Assembly of First Nations, along with the government of Canada and others will be working toward a full compensation package and a final settlement agreement. Specifics around what the application process will look like will also emerge around that time.

She said while there are "a lot of moving parts," she wanted to acknowledge people in Yukon who have helped the process.

"It's been your stories and your voices, and continuing to press the federal government to not only do what's right," she said, "but to also make sure that this never happens again, in terms of the numbers of children that have been apprehended unlawfully and unjustly."