Canada pledges $31.5 billion for Indigenous child welfare

Canada announced two monetary agreements on Tuesday designed to compensate Indigenous children taken from their families and placed in the child welfare system. The deal comes nearly 15 years after the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society filed a human rights complaint. Indigenous families say the Canadian government discriminated against them by underfunding social services on reservations and then removing children from their families so they could get those services elsewhere.

What does the deal involve? The agreement will provide $15.8 billion for First Nations children removed from their homes since April 1, 1991. The government will spend another $15.7 billion over the next five years to implement long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services. The funds will also cover support for First Nations adults who aged out of the system. 

Dig deeper: Read Samantha Gobba’s report in Compassion on the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves near former residential schools for First Nations children.