July 11, 2024 — Montréal, Québec — Indigenous Services Canada, Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario, and Nishnawbe Aski Nation

Today, the Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Canada reached a $47.8 billion Agreement on the Long-Term Reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program. The Agreement is subject to engagement with First Nations and final approvals by the parties to the Agreement.

This First Nations-led and designed agreement is the product of the cumulative efforts of the First Nations Parties and their unwavering dedication and leadership over the past three years to ensure the rights of their children and communities are respected and upheld.

Building on the Agreement-in-Principle signed between Canada and the Parties that previously dedicated $20 billion over five years in 2021, this Agreement will include $47.8 billion over 10 years, providing stable and predictable funding over a longer period that fully supports a reformed program and accounts for the increased costs of services in remote communities. 

Key reforms to the current Program’s funding methodology will put First Nations in the driver’s seat in delivering child and family services to their communities, with increased funding for prevention, First Nations representative services, post-majority support services that will support youth and young adults past the age of majority, and capital. Program funding will adjust to the needs of First Nations children and families today, and into the future, through adjustments for population, inflation and remoteness.

Over the next three months, First Nations-led engagements will take place across the country to help communities better understand how the Agreement will improve child and family services in their community. We will be working closely with the First Nations Parties during this process, and towards an approved final agreement later this year.

Once the Agreement is approved by the Parties, Canada and the First Nations Parties would file a motion with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to seek the end of its oversight over the First Nations Child and Family Services Program, with the goal of implementing a fully reformed Program by April 1, 2025.