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389Systemic
Discrimination in Government Services and Programs and Its Impact on…
needs and circumstances of First Nations children and families liv-
ing on reserve—including their cultural, historical and geographical
needs and circumstances.” According to the CHRT panel, substantive
equality in services for First Nations children could not be achieved
through applying ad hoc and piecemeal measures to the funding. It
analogized:
It is like adding support pillars to a house that has a weak founda-
tion in an attempt to straighten and support the house. At some
point, the foundation needs to be fixed or, ultimately, the house
will fall down. Similarly, a REFORM of the FNCFS Program is
needed in order to build a solid foundation for the program to
address the real needs of First Nations children and families liv-
ing on reserve.29
In retrospect, the CHRT’s conclusion that the Government of Canada
had been aware for many years of the harmful impact of its discrimi-
natory behaviour on First Nations children, but nevertheless did
not act, foreshadowed its inability or unwillingness to immediately
cease its unlawful conduct. Faced with Canada’s inaction following
its decision on the merit of the complaint, the CHRT was required to
issue nine further remedial orders in which it specified with preci-
sion the measures the federal government needed to take to comply
with its legal obligations under the CHRA. Of most relevance to the
current situation, Canada was ordered to cease unnecessarily real-
locating funds from other social programs, especially housing, to
compensate for shortfalls or increased costs in its FNCFSP;30 to fund
requests for services to First Nations children that are culturally
appropriate and necessary to safeguard their best interests, and to
fund certain services and programs for First Nations children based
on their actual costs.31
While the CHRT’s ruling and remedial orders relate specifically
to FNCFSP and Jordan’s Principle, the decision clarifies the legal stan-
dard with which Canada must comply to satisfy its obligations under
the CHRA in the provision and funding of all services and programs to
29. Caring Society 2016, supra note 3 at para 463.
30. First Nations Child &Â
Family Caring Society of Canada et al v Attorney General ofÂ
Canada (representing the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada), 2018
CHRT 4 at para 422.
31. Ibid at para 462.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International