Much could be learned on a larger scale from the Yukon when it comes to First Nations and their claims to Indigenous children and their well-being.

That’s the view of Seamus O’Regan, the federal Indigenous Services minister who in February introduced Bill C-92, titled “An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Children, Youth and Families”.

With the aim to limit the apprehension of children, the bill has been before the standing committee on Aboriginal Peoples for pre-study since March.

The bill’s goal is to devolve responsibility for children and youth in care who are Indigenous from Ottawa to First Nations – a historic move that could follow the territory’s lead, O’Regan said Friday afternoon in Whitehorse.

“(It’s to) take what’s been developed here in the Yukon and help other First Nation communities – Inuit, Metis communities – across the country see their rights and responsibilities when it comes to child and family services, recognized, affirmed and enabled.

“That means we’re going to start putting an end to the apprehension of children,” with the best way to do that being to “allow communities to affirm their responsibility to look after their children.”

O’Regan did acknowledge that doesn’t mean things are perfect on the child welfare file, for example.

“Yukon is so far ahead, but it’s not to say there aren’t bumps in the road.”

His comments came just a day after the territory’s Child and Youth Advocate tabled her report into the experiences of 94 children in group care in the territory from April 2015 to March 2018 (see Friday’s Star).

That was in part sparked by allegations of mistreatment and eventually findings of wrongdoing in government group homes, which included staff evicting a youth without any alternate accommodations.

The allegations prompted YG to publicly apologize for what it called an “institution in crisis.”

Recommendations have since pointed to the need to keep children with their communities and families, and note the significant portion of those in care are Indigenous.

For Ottawa’s part, O’Regan pointed out the feds set aside more than $1.1 billion for the First Nations Child and Family Services program, showing a doubling over the past three years.

“Eighty per cent of that $1.2 billion goes toward protective services, which is an extremely ironic name for the apprehension of children – that is unacceptable.”

The minister referenced the three principles of the bill:

• the child comes first;

• that culture, tradition and language are essential to the well-being of the child; and

• that every child and family who deals with the system must be dealt with with dignity.

These “are principles that basically form an umbrella that we believe will allow and empower Indigenous communities across the country to develop their own child and family services systems,” he added.

O’Regan also acknowledged past systems which have not been nearly as kind with the practice of apprehending particularly Indigenous children; “a socio-economic reason is not enough to sever a child from its community.”

The feds point out that in Canada, more than half of the children in foster care are Indigenous, despite them making up under 10 per cent of the child population in the country.

This means that out of 28,665 foster children in private homes under the age of 15, about 14,970 are Indigenous.

O’Regan’s remarks also come on the heels of all three levels of government agreeing on terms of reference around talks on First Nations child welfare services in March.

The minister was in town for the intergovernmental forum. It featured the Council of Yukon First Nations’ grand chief, Peter Johnston, and deputy premier Ranj Pillai, among other ministers and chiefs.

Other discussions at the event included economic development in the North and the federal government’s loan forgiveness to First Nations that borrowed money to negotiate their land claim agreements.

Johnston has estimated that could be more than $100 million for groups in the territory (the announcement was made in the federal government’s March budget), but details were still being fine-tuned.

“That’s a tremendous amount of dollars that are going to come back to the Yukon to self-governing First Nations, and is going to give First Nations another set of tools to deal with their capital gaps,” Pillai added.

Johnston agreed it was a long time coming, as it could take multiple generations to “level the playing field,” and likened it to a relatively easy and non- discriminatory fix.

“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit,” Johnston said. “Just recognize our citizens like we do as one people rather than discriminate for status, for non- status – right there, that would alleviate a lot of the funding shortfalls that we’re facing.”

Meanwhile, long-time Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc announced he’d be taking a leave of absence that same day for his role as minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade, as he is battling cancer.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau has temporarily taken over the intergovernmental affairs and internal trade role.

Carolyn Bennett has added Northern Affairs to her Crown-Indigenous Relations post.

Bennett was also in Whitehorse last week for the intergovernmental forum.

The forum was first established in 2002, after the signing of land claim and self-government agreements by some Yukon First Nations, and last updated its protocol more than a decade ago in 2007.

Beyond last week, the most recent intergovernmental forum was in December 2017.

Topics have included the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Act, land use planning, education and housing.

This month’s updating of the protocol added O’Regan’s signature to it, meaning two federal ministers are now committed to the forum.

This month’s event came six months before the federal Liberals send voters to the polls.