How NWT First Nations are exploring jurisdiction over child and family services

The Dene Nation plans to draft a framework for a Dene child and family services law, as research continues into how responsibility for child and family services can be transferred to northern First Nations.

“The curtains are on fire,” said Tyler Dempsey, the Dene Nation’s chief of staff, after the subject formed a pillar of last month’s Dene National Assembly in Kátł’odeeche First Nation.

“Something needs to be done and the time is now.”

Chiefs and leaders at the assembly said they were concerned by the number of Indigenous children in the child welfare system, children without cultural support plans, and children being placed out of territory or in non-Indigenous homes. They described child and family services as a treaty right never surrendered to territorial or federal governments.

“They are running it for us, and that has to stop. We can do it ourselves,” said Dene National Chief George Mackenzie.

“The territorial government is just another agency. We can form another agency just like them. It’s not hard to do.”

In a recent report, the federal Office of the Auditor General found serious shortcomings in NWT child protection and said Indigenous children made up 98 percent of those in protective and preventative services.

Giving a presentation on the state of child welfare for Indigenous children, Dempsey said the Dene Nation had established a committee to explore how responsibilities could be transferred to First Nation governments and what an Indigenous-led system would look like.

Dempsey suggested such a system would be based on Dene law, with Dene governance and a Dene workforce. Directly funded by Ottawa, he said, it would take a prevention-first approach and offer First Nations data sovereignty over information about Dene children.

He said decisions on child welfare, such as when a child is removed from a home and where they are placed, would be guided by “family councils” with family, community and Elder representatives.

However, Dempsey stressed no format has actually been decided on, and whatever the Dene Nation proposes would be voluntary – individual First Nation governments could adopt or change the proposal to meet their needs.

“There is a huge opportunity here for a real, powerful, and important legacy to be left that will improve outcomes for children for generations to come,” said Dempsey.

What has changed so far

In 2020, Bill C-92 affirmed Indigenous governments’ “inherent right of self-government, which includes jurisdiction in relation to child and family services.”

The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation was the first Indigenous government in the NWT to enact its own child and family services a year later. The IRC signed a $533.5-million agreement with the federal and NWT governments in September 2024 toward advancing its plan to take control of child and family services for Inuvialuit.

The Tłı̨chǫ Government received 1.2 million in 2026 to enhance its child welfare programming capacity and “explore jurisdictional considerations.”

While delegates at the Dene National Assembly describe this as an important issue and one that should be pursued, they also said the process shouldn’t be rushed.

Dempsey said other Indigenous governments who have taken responsibility over child and family services took seven years to do so, referring to the Dene Nation as being in year one of the process.

Work that can begin quickly is related to prevention, Dempsey say, “because if families and children are supported, it can be prevented that there becomes an issue that requires intervention.”

The process must be led by First Nation governments, he said, with the ultimate goal that “every Dene child grows up in their family, connected to their community, their language and the land.”

If asked, he added, the Dene Nation could facilitate the transfer of jurisdiction over child and family services until a First Nation government is ready.

“We know that communities are going to want to be empowered and to be funded to do this work directly, because that is where the quickest and most effective impact is able to be achieved,” said Dempsey.

‘There is progress being made’

When Indigenous governments feel ready to proceed, they must provide notice of intent that they wants to exercise control over child and family services. At that point, talks with the federal and territorial governments can begin.

NWT Premier RJ Simpson said he would support Indigenous governments who choose to take jurisdiction over child and family services. The premier told Cabin Radio the process to do so “hasn’t been a secret.”

“The future will be Indigenous governments across the territory handling more and more of these government services and being the ones to deliver them – writing their own legislation, creating their own policies and delivering the services themselves – and we’re actively working towards that,” said Simpson.

Simpson attended some of the Dene National Assembly and said he heard leaders’ concerns. He said “a lot has changed over the last number of years” with the GNWT’s delivery of child and family services, particularly the number of children receiving services in their homes.

“Instead of the default being children are taken from the homes, support is provided to a family to ensure that the child can stay in the home,” said Simpson, adding that if this is not possible, child and family services staff try to keep children in their communities.

Speaking to the findings of the auditor general’s report, Simpson said the NWT’s problem is primarily an administrative one, with managers not signing off on paperwork documenting the work done by staff who support children in the child welfare system.

“We have policies that frankly feel sometimes like they’re almost a little too burdensome for ourselves. It’s administratively burdensome, and the staff are working with children and don’t necessarily have the time to go and do the paperwork associated with it,” he said.

Dene Nation’s next steps

On the final day of the Dene National Assembly, delegates passed a resolution directing the Dene Nation to draft a framework for a Dene Child and Family Services Law.

The resolution also called for direct funding from the federal government to a First Nation – or an Indigenous coordinating organization when requested – that can be used to operate an Indigenous government-led child and family services system, fund prevention efforts, and support programs and training.

Other items included in the resolution include a request that First Nations be notified when a child is apprehended – the auditor general’s report stated this didn’t happen in four of the five cases it investigated – and a clear process established for NWT families and communities “seeking compensation of discriminatory or harmful child welfare practices.”

In 2024, the Assembly of First Nations voted to include the NWT in a draft $47.8-billion settlement agreement for long-term reform of the federal First Nations Child and Family Services Program.

The Dene Nation also sits on the National Children’s Chiefs Commission, which is in negotiations with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for “compensation for past harms and also for funding to make things better in the future,” Dempsey said.

While the National Children’s Chiefs Commission formally advocated for the NWT’s inclusion in a compensation deal, Dempsey said there have been challenges in including the territory as child and family services are delivered by the GNWT on behalf of the federal government.