—Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism:—

The Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism is vital to keeping Canada accountable to communities, children, and families. Whenever the government of Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, or any other actor behaves in a way that is harmful for First Nations children, the Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism can stop the harmful behaviour. 

The Mechanism must be:

-Independent

-Grounded in First Nations law

-Expert-informed

-Based on human rights

-Grounded in the best interests of children

-Timely

-Easily accessible 

-Led by First-Nations

The Mechanism must be able to give clear, specific, actionable orders that the involved parties must follow, which are enforceable in court. It must be able to respond to and remedy both systemic and specific failures. And it must ensure that the Fully Reformed Funding Approach prevails in any disputes. It needs to be able to respond to the unique circumstances of each case, and must provide immediate interim remedy when a child is being harmed. 

There needs to be effective measures that stop all retaliation against people and groups bringing cases to the Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism. These anti retaliation measures include but are not limited to injunctive relief and compensation. 

The Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism must itself be accountable and transparent. This includes them being subject to mandatory periodic reviews and regular non-discrimination assessments. The proceedings and results of cases must be fully public unless the litigant asks for it not to be. 

Canada and the people suing them must fund honourable, impartial, independent, experienced, and non-political staff to be part of the dispute resolution mechanism. The staff need to have not previously served a political role, and need to disclose any conflicts of interest. These staff will be chosen from a list given by the National Oversight Council, and the National Oversight Council and the parties suing Canada need to approve or deny the decision makers that are chosen. 

The Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism cannot have the power to amend Canadian Human Rights Tribunal orders or make changes in funding structures. 

Canada must fully cooperate with the making of the mechanism and to the processes of dispute resolution and the rulings given. 

—Regional Variations:—

Each community and region is unique, with unique needs, obstacles, history, and culture. That is why there needs to be enough flexibility in the system to allow each community to adapt child and family service provision to their own situations and cultures. 

Canada must negotiate regional variations that meet or exceed the Reformed Funding Approach, and later the Fully Reformed Funding Approach. These agreements must be made in good faith and the desires of the communities should be obeyed. These agreements must be able to be reworked to meet the constantly changing circumstances of each community. Canada must fund and support regional approaches that are effective, liked by communities, respectful of the rights and needs of children, and in line with the long term reforms outlined in the Loving Justice National Plan. 

While negotiations with the regions are ongoing, Canada must report on these negotiations monthly to the National Oversight Council. Canada must submit all of the plans they negotiated to the National Oversight Council for approval, within six months of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal approving the reform plan. If Canada takes more than six months, the regions that are waiting will give their own plans to the Tribunal and Canada will follow those plans. 

Canada must also fund and support independent community-based technical hubs that support community accountability, connection-building, and coordination. These hubs will help people participate in national decision making, and help with workforce training, recruitment, and development. 

The Regional Technical Tables will develop plans to build the capacity of their corresponding Regional Secretariats, and Canada will fund the capacity building of the Regional Secretariats as much as is asked for. 

Canada must publish on their website the full details of all existing agreements with provinces and territories. They must do this 30 days after the reform plan gets approved and 14 days after a new agreement gets made. Also within 30 days of reform plan approval, Canada must give all affected First Nations the support, funding, and resources needed to negotiate new federal-provincial or federal-territorial agreements. If any provinces or territories refuse to negotiate, Canada must fund the services that the provinces would've otherwise funded. The provinces and territories will also collect all relevant data and share it with the Secretariats, Technical Tables, community hubs, and anyone else who needs the information. 

—Indigenous Services Canada Reforms:—

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is the government department tasked with funding services to Indigenous people. There are many problems with the organization. They take a top down, paternalistic approach that disregards communities' experiences, knowledge, expertise, cultures, and needs. The decision making is unilateral, meaning that communities are not listened to and decisions are made in an authoritarian way. This includes decisions about funding and policy. They have rigid policies that lead to the unique needs of each community not being met. And they are not held accountable for their conduct. 

All of this has lead to many problems. There are lengthy wait times in the approvals of applications and in all correspondences. Each department within Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), when contacted by people, communities, or service providers, say that another department will fund the program or service. This leads to programs and services getting no funding. There are problems with staffing and regional structures. There are jurisdictional barriers preventing people and groups from getting what they need. 

As we can see, Indigenous Services Canada needs major changes. They need permanent, independent, and legally-binding oversight. The first thing that needs to happen is there needs to be an Indigenous-led joint governance body that governs ISC and has the authority to give legally-binding orders. The National Oversight Council needs to also be involved in the governance of ISC. There needs to be third-party evaluation of ISC by Indigenous rights groups, including the Assembly of Seven Generations, which is a nonprofit run by young people focused on child and youth advocacy, charity, and cultural revival. ISC cannot change governance, accountability mechanisms, or performance without approval from Indigenous communities.

The Expert Advisory Committee has been formed to make an evidence-informed work plan to get rid of discrimination within ISC. Canada must follow this work plan and give the Expert Advisory Committee the funding it needs to properly carry out all of its work. The Committee itself must be transparent, public, and independent, reporting to the Chiefs in Assembly and Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The Expert Advisory Committee must determine whether there are enough safeguards in place to stop Indigenous Services Canada from discriminating again, and report its conclusions to the Tribunal and Chiefs in Assembly. 

Some measures ISC needs to take: 

-Removing systemic barriers such as challenges coordinating across governments

-Creating their own human resources department

-Removing proposal-based and competitive funding mechanisms

-Closing loopholes

Additionally, there needs to be an independent ombudsperson or commissioner for child rights and wellbeing. This ombudsperson/commissioner would represent the rights and needs of children and families, and would help children and families represent themselves, to enact positive change in ISC. This role will be guided by First Nations values and culture. 

ISC also needs to publicly acknowledge that it is and has been very harmful and discriminatory. They must implement the recommendations and orders of First Nations communities. And they must make public commitments towards change. They must publicly report what progress they are making towards these commitments. 

Ultimately, Indigenous Services Canada needs to act with respect, transparency, and accountability. They need to be based on the human rights of Indigenous people, and build healthy relationships with communities. The communities themselves should make decisions about policies, funding, and all other things that affect them. ISC should prioritize creating good outcomes for children. And they need to be led by Indigenous communities themselves. 

—Data Collection:—

There will be many ways of doing data collection, research, analysis, and reviews baked into the reformed child and family services system. These ways will ensure that all parties are acting honourably, and that the outcomes for children and families are good. 

First of all, there will be a Public Funding Review every five years. This Review will be done by an independent, non political expert recommended by the National Technical Table and appointed by the National Oversight Council. The people doing the Review will be experienced in finance, First Nations, and First Nations child and family services. The Review will ensure that the funding structures, and the conduct of the government and ISC is effectively meeting people's holistic needs and creating good outcomes. Indigenous Services Canada, the federal government, all provincial and territorial governments, and all other government departments must fully cooperate with this Review and provide data within ten days of being asked. This Review will be made in consultation with First Nations communities and service providers. 

The National Technical Advisory Committee will oversee the Review and provide guidance where needed. The National and Regional Technical Tables and other First Nations experts will review and comment of the draft Public Funding Review, which will then be provided in English and French to all First Nations communities for approval. The Parliament of Canada will look at and publicly report on the Review within 60 days, and implement the recommendations. Any disputes regarding the implementation of these recommendations will go to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal or Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism. 

The Public Funding Review itself will be transparent and accountable, and will publicly post its methods, sample size, criteria, findings, and recommendations.

Another review that needs to be done is the review of the Reformed Funding Approach. In the third year of the Approach's operations, the review will be done to see what the outcomes of the Reformed Funding Approach are and how the Approach can be improved even more to create better outcomes for children and families. This will inform the Fully Reformed Funding Approach. 

As said before, the census system of Indigenous Services Canada is woefully inadequate. The National Technical Table, National Oversight Council, the groups suing Canada, and the Canadian government must work together to create a better census system. 

Canada must also fund a First Nations-led Child and Family Wellbeing Research Fund. This Fund will research the structural drivers - such as poverty and mental illness in the family - that cause children to come into contact with child and family services, and will also research what reforms to do to fix these structural drivers. The Fund will also check whether the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal's orders are being followed and what the quality of services is. 

Post majority support is another area that needs more research. A body appointed by the National Oversight Council will find an evidence-based plan for creating post-majority supports that ensure equal outcomes for youth involved in child and family services compared to other youth. 

The next thing that needs to be created is a Child and Youth Impact Assessment Tool. This Tool will be developed by the Regional and National Technical Tables, the National Oversight Committee, the parties suing Canada, First Nations communities, elders, youth, and people who have had experience being in foster care and other alternative care. 

The Prime Minister must consult with the National Oversight Council to publish a yearly report on Canada's compliance with the child and family services reform plan. The report will be published publicly, along with the National Oversight Council's comments on the report. 

As it stands right now, there is a lack of capacity to collect all the necessary data relating to child and family services. Canada must fund the recruitment, training, and retention of staff for data collection and evaluation, and fund structures for said purpose. These structures should be led by communities and be transparent, culturally appropriate, and accountable. There should be inter jurisdictional coordination and shared regional data systems. The funding for any data collection cannot come from funding that would otherwise go towards service provision. 

—Ways the Loving Justice Plan Needs to be Improved:—

The people who made the Loving Justice National Plan acknowledge that it has some shortcomings, which must be improved in the final product. First of all, communities in the North West Territories and also the Dene Nation are left out, and should instead be fully included into the Loving Justice National Plan. Secondly, children and families off reserve are left out, and First Nations reserves need to be given the funding and support to provide substantively equal services to their community members who live off reserve. 

—Canada's Reform Plan—

There are many problems with the plan made by the Canadian government regarding First Nations child and family services reform. First of all, ultimate authority in that plan goes to the government of Canada and not the communities, children, and families being affected, both on a national and regional level. The funding structure doesn't do enough to ensure communities get their needs met. There's no funding for capacity building within service agencies or for legal or technical advice for communities. Canada's accountability and enforcement mechanisms are weak and do not give decision making power to First Nations, who are the people being affected by this whole system. If local communities don't reach a regional agreement with Canada, they will be forced to default to Canada's wishes.