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A northern Ontario Cree chief is accusing the federal government of blocking his community’s effort to reclaim jurisdiction over child and family services by tying any transfer of authority to funding conditions the Nation has not accepted.
Taykwa Tagamou Nation Chief Bruce Archibald said an Aug. 6 letter from Indigenous Services Canada informed the community that funding for on-reserve services “will align” with Canada’s broader child welfare program reforms. Those reforms, Archibald said, the Nation has not endorsed. The letter stated the new approach “will guide fiscal discussions” during negotiations for a co-ordination agreement under federal law C-92.
“They’re not giving us self-determination,” Archibald told CBC Indigenous. “They’re basically forcing the colonial way of how things were done in the past, which didn’t work for our people.”
The chief said the situation leaves him concerned, ignored and disheartened. He warned the approach could set a precedent that affects other First Nations attempting to exercise jurisdiction under C-92, the 2019 law that recognizes Indigenous peoples’ inherent right to make their own child and family services laws.
C-92 was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada two years ago and described as “legislative reconciliation by means of an innovative statute.” Sixteen co-ordination agreements have been signed since the law passed, according to Indigenous Services Canada.
Taykwa Tagamou Nation, located about 270 kilometres north of Sudbury, has spent years developing its own child well-being law. The community has been in talks with Canada for roughly two years. Archibald has personal history with the child welfare system: he was removed from his family as a toddler and placed in a non-Indigenous home.
The Nation is one of two Ontario First Nations that sought and received an exemption from the broader Ontario Final Agreement on long-term reform of First Nations child and family services. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal approved that agreement for most Ontario First Nations while ordering Canada to consult on custom interim remedies for Taykwa Tagamou and Chippewas of Georgina Island.
Canada has filed for judicial review of parts of the tribunal’s decision. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty has said funding for the two communities will continue while engagement proceeds.
Archibald’s comments come as First Nations across the country continue to press for full control over the systems that have long removed their children at disproportionate rates. Indigenous children account for more than half of all children in foster care in Canada despite representing a small share of the child population.
Community leaders have long argued that culturally grounded systems keep children safer and connected to language, family and Nation. The federal letter’s insistence on aligning with national program reforms is being read by some as a retreat from the self-determination language of C-92.
Archibald said the Nation will continue pushing for a funding arrangement that respects its own law and priorities rather than requiring acceptance of a framework designed without its full consent.
Originally published in the Two Row Times, September 16, 2026 (Volume 14, Issue 5), page 10.