Updates on Jordan’s Principle provided at wellness conference in Toronto
By Sam Laskaris
TORONTO – Zachariah General realizes changes are needed with Jordan’s Principle.
General, the associate health director with the Chiefs of Ontario was a featured presenter at the First Nations Community Wellness Conference, which was held Aug. 19-21 at Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.
General’s workshop was titled Jordan’s Principle: A multi-sectorial open-discussion on Jordan’s Principle and future reforms.
The Toronto conference was organized by the Chiefs of Ontario (COO).
General’s presentation primarily focused on Jordan’s Principle happenings this year. He also addressed the wishes of First Nations leadership in the province and what they’d like to see with the human rights principle, which was established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The principle is named in memory of Jordan River Anderson, a young member from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba, who died in 2005.
Jordan’s Principle was founded to ensure First Nations children have timely access to government services. But the principle has been controversial in recent years as news surfaced that some requests were made and granted for items considered outside the parameters of original intentions.
Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) introduced a Jordan’s Principle operational bulletin this past February providing information on immediate changes it was making.
Changes included narrowing of certain eligible products and services and obtaining supporting documentation from qualified professionals when submitting requests.
General told conference delegates ISC officials have said First Nations are abusing the Jordan’s Principle initiative. General added there has been pushback on those claims.
“First Nations are submitting their requests,” he said. “Indigenous Services (Canada) are the ones who are approving those requests. So how can it be abusive? The decision powers are not within First Nations’ hands.”
This past March, then Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, announced there would continue to be funding for Jordan’s Principle through this year and 2026.
General said talk of Jordan’s Principle changes have been worrisome.
“With all those changes, there’s been a lot of concerns from First Nations that we’ve heard at the Chiefs of Ontario,” he said. “And this was really reflected at our recent June Chiefs’ assembly.”
Four resolutions were passed on this one issue at the assembly.
“That’s the most we’ve had in a year since the beginning of Jordan’s Principle,” General said.
General added these four resolutions will be front of mind in the immediate future.
“We’re utilizing those in terms of how we advocate and move forward on this file because it is a significant file,” he said.
General said COO leadership did have a recent meeting with the new Minister of Indigenous Services, Mandy Gull-Masty.
“We’re pushing for that collaborative initiative to kind of work together on addressing the problems of Jordan’s Principle as well as addressing the bulletin,” General said.
He also said that Gull-Masty has stressed Jordan’s Principle needs to be financially sustainable.
General believes it’s positive that Gull-Masty is listening to COO concerns. He’s hoping another meeting with Gull-Masty is held soon.
“I think the minister is interested in hearing what are some solutions our First Nations leadership want to see when it comes to Jordan’s Principle,” he said. “We have these four resolutions, clearly calling for some reforms, as well as calling for exploring a regional approach. So, that’s something that we are continuing to follow up on.”