A resolution to have some transfer payments sent directly to the Dene Nation by the federal government will be heard at an Assembly of First Nations meeting in Ottawa this week.
“The Dene Nation stands united in advocating for the direct allocation of federal funding to our communities, without the Government of the Northwest Territories acting as an intermediary,” read a statement provided to Cabin Radio by a spokesperson for the Dene Nation.
“We firmly believe that this approach is the most efficient and cost-effective means of addressing the pressing priorities of Dene First Nations across the Northwest Territories.”
Currently, the federal government provides transfer payments to the territorial government to deliver things like healthcare and social services for NWT residents. They are a major source of the GNWT’s annual revenue.
The Dene Nation said it is engaged in early discussions with Dene leadership to explore “greater jurisdiction over child and family services” and will gauge communities’ interest in the Dene Nation taking a larger role.
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Dene National Chief and AFN Regional Chief George Mackenzie told Cabin Radio the way child welfare services are currently managed is “not working” for Indigenous communities in the NWT.
“The chiefs are not happy with it, they don’t want the territorial government to handle child welfare for us, so the direct funding should go to the Dene community, not to the territorial government,” said National Chief Mackenzie.
He pointed to critical reports of the GNWT’s services from Canada’s auditor general, in both 2014 and 2018, as reasons for that concern.
The report from 2018 alleged social workers lost contact with almost nine in every 10 children placed in foster care, didn’t carefully screen where children were placed, and frequently failed to take basic steps like consulting criminal record checks.
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Cabin Radio did not receive comment from the NWT’s Department of Health and Social Services, which manages child welfare, before publication.
If the Dene Nation had more jurisdiction over child welfare services, Mackenzie said, community members and chiefs would have a greater say in the operation of the service.
“The Dene Nation would do a good job of running this administration for child welfare because every chief, they wake up in their community, they go to sleep in their community, so they know what’s going on,” said Mackenzie.
At an AFN assembly last year, Dene leaders successfully advocated to have the NWT included in a historic child welfare settlement agreement with the federal government.
They asked for fair and equitable inclusion in child and family service reforms, compensation packages, and improved administration of Jordan’s Principle.
The settlement agreement stemmed from a 2016 ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that Canada had discriminated against First Nations children and their families by improperly funding child and family services on reserves and in the Yukon.
The Dene Nation said it is now advocating for compensation from the agreement to be directed to its members.
“It is critical that once an agreement is reached, the funds are delivered directly to impacted individuals and communities. We want to be unequivocally clear: these resources must not be funnelled through the GNWT,” the Dene Nation said.
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If the resolution heard at this week’s special assembly passes, the AFN will be directed to ask the Government of Canada to make the change, though that doesn’t necessarily mean Ottawa will agree to do so.
Indigenous management of child welfare has begun elsewhere in the NWT.
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation passed its own child and family services law in 2021, then signed a funding agreement with the federal government in 2024 that is worth $533.5 million over 10 years.
