Whatever happened to Jordan's principle?

Thirty-seven special needs children living on a remote Manitoba First Nation reserve are going without a variety of medical and social services because the federal and provincial governments cannot decide who should cover the costs.

Advocates for the community claim the prolonged dispute stands in stark defiance of Jordan's Principle, a resolution passed in the House of Commons in 2007 that stipulates that government's must adopt a “child first” principle in resolving jurisdictional disputes involving First Nations children (CMAJ 2008;178[3]:277).

“We were very hopeful Jordan's Principle would end these kinds of disputes,” says Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. “But once again, we have children in need and neither government is stepping forward to provide the services.”

The dispute appeared resolved in early May, 2008, when federal Health Minister Tony Clement promised that the government would ante its share of the bill. But Health Canada spokesman Paul Spendlove later clarified that Clement's promise applied to existing services now being provided on the Norway House Indian Reserve, located 800 km north of Winnipeg. The provision of new services will be considered on a case-by-case basis, Spendlove said, adding that a needs assessment of each child will be undertaken to determine what services may be required.

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The Norway House Cree Nation has proposed to establish a new facility for special needs children, but the federal government has been mum on funding a share of the costs. Image by: Walt Kippenhuck / iStockphoto.com

The 37 children range in age from less than 1 to 18 years. Many are in wheelchairs and require a wide variety of services including speech therapy, occupationaltherapy, physiotherapy and respite care for their families. To date, the Norway House Cree Nation has been unable to secure any of these services because the federal and provincial governments cannot agree on who should pay.

Band Councillor Mike Muswagon says the community is angry that the 2 governments would dare compromise the care of these children in the wake of Jordan's Principle. “The fact is that both levels of government have to provide for these kids, period,” he adds.

Jordan's Principle was drafted in response to the death of Jordan River Anderson, another Norway House child who died in 2003 of a rare muscular disorder after years of medical treatment in a Winnipeg hospital. There was a plan to discharge Jordan in 2001 so he could be with his family in his home community but no agreement could be reached between Ottawa and Manitoba about which level of government would pay for his special medical needs. The House of Commons resolution stipulated that in the event of a jurisdictional dispute over funding for a First Nation child, the government of first contact would pay for any services and seek cost-sharing after the services had been provided.

However, for Jordan's Principle to be effective, Ottawa and the provinces had to reach intergovernmental agreements to implement the policy. Manitoba hopes to become the first province to reach such an agreement with the federal government but negotiations have not yet proved fruitful. Muswagon says federal and provincial officials visited Norway House on Apr. 23, 2008, to assess capital needs on the reserve and review case files on each of the 37 children. He also says the band has proposed to establish a new facility to provide a variety of therapies for the children.

Manitoba has verbally offered to pay one third of the cost of those additional services. Ottawa would be on the hook for the remainder. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada declined comment other than to say that a proposal from the First Nation is under consideration.