Although the theme of Aboriginal Education Month is "Aboriginal Presence in the War of 1812", I wanted to write briefly about what is currently a very live issue in Canadian law - the funding of child welfare services to First Nations children on reserves.

First Nations children are overrepresented in all areas of social concern. In contrast with non-Aboriginal children and youth, First Nations children are more likely to be born into poverty, to suffer health problems, maltreatment, experience drug and/or alcohol dependency, to be incarcerated, and, to enter the child welfare system. Aboriginal children are highly overrepresented in child protection services in Canada, and have been for over four decades. This is due, in part, to the unequal funding of child and family services agencies on reserves.

By way of background, as a response to historical experiences of First Nations such as residential schools and the '60's scoop, First Nations communities over the past two decades have engaged in the development of child welfare agencies on reserve in an effort to provide culturally relevant  services to the children of their communities. However, this effort has been thwarted by the federal funding scheme that is responsible for providing the money that these agencies rely on in order to provide child welfare services.

In 2007, The First Nations Child &Family Caring Society of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations launched a human rights complaint arguing that the funding for First Nations children is less that what non-Aboriginal children receive from provincial governments. This results in fewer and worse services being provided to First Nations children on-reserve in comparison to other Canadian children, which, under s. 5 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, is discrimination.

This claim is currently before the Human Rights Tribunal for a full hearing on the merits, where the tribunal will rule whether it finds this inequality to amount to discrimination. The hearings, which are open to the public, will start on February 25, 2013 and will run for about 14 weeks in Ottawa.

Please visit http://www.fncaringsociety.com/fnwitness to become both educated and involved in this incredibly important cause.