THUNDER BAY — Assembly of First Nations Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak commends Ontario's chiefs for their work trying to fix the country’s broken child welfare system.
The national chief addressed the Chiefs of Ontario on Wednesday, the second day of the three-day Fall Chiefs Assembly at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay.
“We had secured together $47.8 billion, and that’s a big number,” said Woodhouse Nepinak, adding the national vote held earlier this fall in Calgary resulted in passionate arguments both for and against accepting the settlement proposal.
The settlement was ultimately rejected and Woodhouse Nepinak said the child welfare system remains unfixed.
“It’s still status quo,” she said. “Everything is still flowing to the provinces and territories in this country. I commend Ontario for their leadership on this issue, and I commend the Ontario First Nations for trying to help the rest of the country on this issue. I think that the right questions are now being asked across the country from First Nations from coast to coast to coast on child welfare.”
“We still have a broken system though before us,” the national chief added. “How do we fix it?
This week’s Fall Chiefs Assembly was the first Chiefs of Ontario meeting for Woodhouse Nepinak and she said her relationship with the chiefs has always been positive.
The national chief hopes to continue working with them on different community issues from housing and roads to claims and disputes.
“That’s all I can do as national chief is make sure I’m offering my full support to First Nations people as they try to pursue a more fulsome, wholesome life for our young people, especially living in First Nations communities that don’t have access to maybe hospitals or proper education facilities because the infrastructure gap is so large in this country when it comes to First Nations people,” said Woodhouse Nepinak.
With the recent death of Murray Sinclair, Woodhouse Nepinak has had the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission on her mind as the initiative approaches its 10th anniversary.
“I think that we have a lot of calls to action that we haven’t actioned yet and we haven’t worked on yet,” she said. “We’re on this journey. It’s not a destination. It’s a journey trying to walk hand in hand.”
