A/HRC/54/31/Add.2 in Canada, accounted for 50 per cent of youth incarceration. 11 The majority of children in care are placed with non-Indigenous families, which can result in children losing their language, culture, identity and family ties. 32. Often the decision to place Indigenous children in foster care is due to a lack of adequate housing; poorly researched and ill-defined reasons for placement; racial discrimination; disparities in funding and quality of child services for Indigenous children; and lack of respect for the Nation-to-Nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Those concerns have been previously noted by the Special Rapporteur and treaty bodies. 12 33. The Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada filed a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2007 13 alleging that the Government of Canada discriminated in the provision of child and family services by underfunding services to First Nations on reserves and in the Yukon territory. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that the chronic underfunding of onreserve child and family services and the refusal of Canada to pay for essential health care was discriminatory and a violation of Jordan’s Principle to provide services for Indigenous Peoples regardless of where they live. 14 The Tribunal ordered Canada to cease its discriminatory practices, reform the child and family services programme and take immediate action to fully implement Jordan’s Principle. In 2019 the Tribunal ordered Canada to pay compensation to individual victims and their families. After announcing agreements in principle in January 2022, the parties finally reached a revised settlement agreement in April 2023 of Can$ 23.4 billion to compensate victims and caregivers of the underfunded First Nations child-welfare system. The agreement is awaiting approval from the Tribunal and the Federal Court. 34. In January 2020, Bill C-92, entitled: “An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families”, became law, recognizing the inherent right of Indigenous Peoples to self-governance over child welfare and reassigning the provision of such services to Indigenous Peoples in coordination with the federal, provincial and territorial governments. The law is intended to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in care, to help Indigenous children maintain ties with their families, communities and culture, and to affirm the inherent right of self-government, thus contributing to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since the statute came into force, 10 communities of Indigenous Peoples have passed their own child and family services laws under the framework of the legislation. However, the fate of the Act remains uncertain, as the province of Québec appealed its constitutionality before the Supreme Court of Canada. 15 35. First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples must be able to decide for themselves what happens to their children in accordance with their culture and their inherent right to selfdetermination over their internal affairs, at all times keeping in mind the best interests of the child.16 11 12 13 14 15 16 GE.23-13374 See https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/daily-quotidien/220420/dq220420c-eng.pdf?st=o5g3I2Pk. E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.3, para. 31; CCPR/C/CAN/CO/5-6, para. 19; and CRC/C/CAN/CO/3-4, para. 55. In 2013 the Special Rapporteur issued a communication to Canada expressing concern over alleged retaliation against the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada for filing the lawsuit. See communication CAN 4/2013, available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=13753. Jordan’s Principle is a commitment by the Federal Government to ensure that all First Nations children living in Canada have access to needed products, services and supports, including health, social services and education. See https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1568396042341/1568396159824. Attorney General of Québec, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada et al., Supreme Court of Canada Court File No. 40061. See https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/sum-som-eng.aspx?cas=40061. See United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, preamble and articles 4 and 7.2; and Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 11 (2009). 7