OTTAWA — Big changes are ahead in child and family services on First Nation land, Bobby Narcisse said Friday after the implementation ceremony for the Ontario Final Agreement.
“There are going to be significant changes, and we’re working with many of our communities,” the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) deputy grand chief from Aroland First Nation told Newswatch.
Narcisse said the nine-year agreement “is going to mean more investments to existing programs” and “investments in capital and IT and emergency funding” and many other areas.
“And we’re working with each of our communities,” he added, “and I know specifically many of our communities are making leaps and bounds. They hit the ground running.”
NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said the regional organization’s 49 member First Nations are ready.
“I think it’s important to note that our communities have been working very hard over these last couple of years to prepare for this day, that they are being set up to succeed,” he said, adding they now have the tools to make important changes.
“To me,” Fiddler said, “what this agreement represents is arming our leadership with the resources that they need to begin to address these longstanding issues (in) this broken system that we are now going to be rebuilding.”
Leadership from NAN and the Chiefs of Ontario joined Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty in a ceremony and celebration for the start of implementing the $8.5-billion agreement to transform on-reserve child welfare services across Ontario.
Gull-Masty told reporters after the ceremony that the Ontario Final Agreement “is not about re-creating a provincial child welfare system … It’s about redefining the space. It’s about incorporating culture.”
The historic agreement won approval from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on March 30, some 17 months after chiefs from across Canada voted in Calgary to reject a 10-year deal to reform the child welfare system for First Nations from coast to coast.
NAN and the Chiefs of Ontario organization began talks with Ottawa on an Ontario-only agreement soon after that Assembly of First Nations vote.
The two sides struck a nine-year, $8.5-billion deal for the 130-plus First Nations in Ontario, and a special chiefs assembly ratified the agreement in Toronto in February 2025.
By reaching an agreement for greater First Nations control over child welfare, this year’s tribunal decision said, “Canada is taking an important step toward reversing a history marked by racist, paternalistic, colonial and assimilationist policies embedded in systemic and racially discriminatory structures.”
In an official statement from her department on March 30, Gull-Masty described the Ontario agreement as “a long-awaited milestone” that “marks a historic step toward a future where First Nations children and families in Ontario have access to fair, culturally grounded, community-led services.”
The Indigenous Services Canada statement said the Ontario Final Agreement “sets a path forward to continued reform of child and family services, moving away from one-size-fits-all systems toward distinctions-based, community-driven solutions that reflect the unique needs of First Nations across the country.”
A key component for northern reserves is the “remoteness quotient adjustment factor,” which fine-tunes funding to account for the increased costs of delivering services in remote First Nations.
NAN communities, most of which don’t have all-season road access, are expected to benefit from the formula by, on average, a near-doubling in funding for on-reserve child welfare services.
Narcisse described the remoteness quotient as “groundbreaking.”
Fiddler said the Ontario agreement “represents a significant shift” in control.
First Nations’ authority “to look after our own children is coming back,” he said. “We are reclaiming that.”
A joint news release Friday from NAN and the Chiefs of Ontario said the new funding framework is “designed by and for First Nations” and “prioritizes prevention, family reunification, culture, and keeping children connected to their communities, languages and identities.”
The agreement “is rooted in substantive equality and in the best interests of First Nation children, youth, young adults and families, with a focus on real outcomes for future generations,” Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict said.
Webequie First Nation member Summer Wabasse, who represents NAN on the Ontario First Nations Young Peoples Council, said the agreement “will help future generations of First Nations children and youth grow up feeling proud of who they are, connected to where they come from, and supported by their communities.
“The future is bright, and today is an important step forward,” she said.
A backgrounder from the federal government said implementation will be overseen by an eight-member committee with representation from NAN and the Chiefs of Ontario as well as five people chosen by the Ontario Chiefs-in-Assembly and one federal representative.
