Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Inuvik, N.W.T., on Monday to sign a funding agreement with the N.W.T. government and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation in support of Inuit-led child and family services.
The agreement means the Canadian government will provide $533.5 million over the next decade for the implementation of Inuvialuit Qitunrariit Inuuniarnikkun Maligaksat — the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation’s child and family services law. The N.W.T. government is also providing $209,391 annually for that.
The signing took place at a ceremony on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. N.W.T. Minister of Health and Social Services Lesa Semmler and the chair and CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Duane Ningaqsiq Smith, joined the prime minister.
Today’s signing comes two years after the N.W.T. government joined a Supreme Court legal challenge of Canada’s Indigenous child welfare law as an intervener, stating that it infringed upon their rights under the Northwest Territories Act. The Supreme Court upheld the law this past February, stating that it was constitutional.
The Inuvialuit are the first Inuit group to develop their own child and family services under Bill C-92.
In a news release Monday, the federal government stated that the announcement sets a precedent for other Inuit groups to create their own child and family services legislation as well.