Grand chief hopeful $47.8B First Nations child welfare vote will be moved to October

The grand chief of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council says she’s optimistic that chiefs from French-speaking nations will get more time to review the landmark $47.8-billion child-welfare deal before voting after a translation delay.

Canada and the Assembly of First Nations reached an agreement on how to reform the First Nations child welfare system after decades of litigation that found Canada discriminated against children on-reserve.

The deal was reached on July 11 and distributed in English the next day, but a French-language version was only released on Aug. 12.

Some chiefs have been pushing to postpone the vote, which was set to happen next month, because they have only had a matter of weeks to review the document in French.

Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council Grand Chief Savanna McGregor says chiefs from Quebec and Labrador had an emergency meeting with Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu and AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak.

Ghislain Picard, the AFN’s regional chief for Quebec-Labrador, says the federal government had an obligation to ensure the agreement was available in both official languages.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2024