First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS)

The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) is a Canadian think-tank at the University of Ottawa. IFSD engages in applied research in public finance and its intersection with public administration, politics and public policy.

Led by Kevin Page, Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), IFSD undertakes its work in Canada at all levels of government as well as abroad.

The objective of the project is to develop options and plans for a change in structure and resources for FNCFS to transition to an outcome-based approach for well-being and thriving First Nations children.

Read the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s ruling here.
See our project overview. 

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT), in its January 2016 decision and subsequent rulings, has found that Canada has used a discriminatory funding approach for FNCFS agencies.  Canada states it is committed to implementing the orders established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. You can read the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s ruling here.

Pursuant to the rulings, IFSD's 2018 report, Enabling First Nations Children to Thrive, was submitted as evidence to the CHRT by the Caring Society in January 2019. In the report, recommendations for funding, structural changes and further research were made. Following acceptance of the report by the National Advisory Committee (NAC), IFSD was asked to undertake a follow-on study to build on this work. Its role is to develop options and plans for a change in structure and resources for FNCFS.

The IFSD is pleased to be working with First Nations child and family services agencies, National Advisory Committee (NAC) on First Nations Child and Family Services, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), and the Caring Society on the development of a new structure and resource profile for FNCFS.

As an affiliate of the University of Ottawa, IFSD is guided by ethical research guidelines respecting Indigenous peoples, the project will follow the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans and OCAP® principles in all of its work. See our research ethics.

Any information collected from the questionnaire will only be shared in an anonymized and aggregate form to protect the rights of agencies and communities. The collection and use of this information will follow the OCAP principles of Ownership, Control, Access and Possession as well as the Tri-Council Policy on Research Ethics.

IFSD will produce monthly updates posted on this website. These updates can be supplemented with briefings to interested parties by IFSD. Project results (interim and final) will be published on this website as soon as they are available.

Should you have any specific questions related to the project and/or its results, you are invited to contact Dr. Helaina Gaspard (helaina.gaspard@ifsd.ca).

This project builds on the first phase, using findings gleaned in the IFSD 2019 report Enabling First Nations Children to Thrive to develop a bottom-up community needs-based implementation plan for changes in structure and resources for FNCFS.

The success of this project depends on your participation. FNCFS agencies have a historic opportunity in response to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's (CHRT) orders to revisit the program architecture and associated funding for First Nations child welfare. We need your help to understand operational nuances, contextual specificities and for building representative cases.

As experts and practitioners, your support, feedback and knowledge are invaluable and will be an integral component of the success of this project. We will look to you as advisors for feedback and commentary as we move throughout the project's stages.