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Statement from the Chiefs of Treaty No. 6, Treaty No. 7 & Treaty No. 8 in regard to Child & Family Services

Press Release

On March 5, 2020, the Treaty No. 6, Treaty No. 7, and Treaty No. 8 Chiefs in attendance at the Special Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, motioned and approved the following statement:

Those Chiefs present at the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs meeting on March 4 & 5, 2020 in Treaty No. 7 Territory assert their inherent laws and jurisdiction for their children and families.

Laws separate from our sovereign Nations’ Laws, Canada developed Bill C-92, an Act Respecting First Nations Youth and Families. This Act recognizes First Nations’ jurisdiction over Child and Family Services which supersedes federal and provincial laws.

The Alberta Minister of Children Services, Rebecca Schultz stated to the AoTC Chiefs “Alberta spends roughly $800,000,000.00 (eight hundred million dollars) on Children Services, 62% of which are Indigenous children in care”.

As Nations Continue to exercise our jurisdiction, including the implementation of our own laws, we recognize Canada has an obligation to our people, fair and equitable funding to bring our children home.

As a minimum, this would include jurisdiction over the roughly $500,000,000.00 (five hundred million dollars) the province of Alberta spends on First Nations children.

Fair and equitable funding should exceed the stated $500,000,000.00; as federal and provincial systems funded under this amount have consistently failed thousands of First Nations children under the Alberta Child and Family Services and the federal Residential School systems.

We expect Canada and its provinces to acknowledge our Treaty Rights & Sovereignty and their own law to recognize jurisdiction over our children, inclusive of starting at the funding amounts they stated for fair and equitable compensation.

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