STATEMENT ON THE FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (FSA)
OCTOBER 31, 2024
Sioux Lookout, Ontario: The leadership of the Windigo First Nations Council (WFNC) is issuing this statement following the October 17, 2024, vote against the $47.8-billion Final Settlement Agreement (FSA) on the long-term reform of the First Nations Child and Family Services Program:
“The FSA was an important agreement for Windigo First Nations given the direct access the settlement would have provided to monies to prevent and mitigate against the violence imposed on our people by colonial forces in Canada for many generations. This direct financial support would have been further supplemented by a ‘remote quotient' to help offset the high cost of living in the remote north. A remote quotient and direct access to prevention dollars was seen by us as unprecedented and an important step forward for remote northern communities like ours.
WFNC communities are currently dealing with a crisis related to addictions and suicide. In the 3 days of the AFN assembly alone, we lost several members to child welfare interventions and addictions and suicide. To us, prevention dollars is the difference between losing our children to child welfare and suicide AND having the capacity to support our families at home. We viewed the FSA as an opportunity to provide much needed support and activities to our children and families – knowing the importance of engaging our people in activities which help combat feelings of loneliness, isolation, trauma and poor mental health.
While the AFN meeting was intended to be a Chiefs meeting and an opportunity for us to come together as leaders, we fear other influences were at play. We feel that our interests as Chiefs were overridden by other spokespeople with priorities distinct from our own. It is our view that those who opposed the agreement did not truly understand the benefits that direct access to prevention dollars would have provided. As leaders on the front lines, we are emphatic that it is us who are best suited to determining how these dollars can be utilized most effectively.
Given the crisis we currently face, we cannot wait another 2, 5 or possibly 18 years to come to a second agreement. As remote northern communities, maintaining a system fraught with problems and one in which our needs are overlooked is not one worth preserving. We will therefore work closely in the coming months with the WFNC, Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and Chiefs of Ontario (COO) and the Assembly of First Nation leadership to arrive at an agreement best suited to our vision, priorities and remote northern challenges.”
For more information contact Anne Chabot, WFNC @ 416 579 2940