The chief of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation says it's disappointing the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has voted to reject a $47.8-billion child welfare reform deal with Ottawa.
The deal had been reached with the federal government in July.
After a lengthy debate at a special assembly in Calgary Thursday, chiefs voted 267 to 147 against the resolution.
Kimberly Bressette, who wasn't able to attend the conference in person due to a scheduling conflict, sent a proxy to support the deal on her behalf.
"I was watching live, and it's pretty disappointing that the outcome happened," said Bressette. "I know it was something that the communities looked forward to, just to move forward to develop more plans around healing and housing supports. There was a lot of pre-planning that went into it. We were looking forward to having (money) in our communities to help with our children and youth in the child welfare system, and helping us to get them out of that system."
Bressette said she also understands the other side of the debate.
"It was a tough thing because I understand some of the concerns from the opposition in accepting it," she said. "There were a lot of pros and cons. It was months of preparation, talking about it, discussing it amongst each other. A lot of back and forth discussion was had. There are a lot of things missing in the deal. It has to do with our prior informed consent and our inherent jurisdiction. We need to make sure the government isn't trying to say 'here's the fix, and we're going to walk away after that'. That's an important piece. We have to make sure there's constant reconciliation and more things going forward where we're at the table and driving a lot of this stuff. We want to make sure that it's us driving the car and not them."
Bressette is optimistic a deal can be finalized.
"We'll be doing work on it in the next few months, and hopefully we can reach a consensus and put some more stuff into the agreement," she said.
According to The Canadian Press (CP), the initial deal was struck between Canada, the Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Assembly of First Nations after a nearly two-decade legal fight over the federal government’s underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services.
Bressette said there would be a positive local impact in reaching some kind of an agreement.
"In our community, we would have more resources available, especially around housing and emergency situations," she said. "That's a big thing for our community. We hope to just have individualized plans around families that really need that support and help in moving forward and getting past that intergenerational trauma, and healing especially."
On Friday, CP said First Nations chiefs voted in favour of a new negotiation process to reform the child welfare system. It calls for the creation of a children’s chiefs’ commission comprised of leadership from all regions in the country, and for a new negotiation and legal team.
The AFN will meet again in December for its regular assembly.
Sarnia News Today also reached out to Aamjiwnaang First Nation for comment.