Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott unveiled a six-point plan to tackle systemic issues with the country's First Nations child welfare programs at an emergency meeting with provincial and Indigenous leaders in Ottawa Thursday. To that end, Philpott said one part of her plan will be directing bureaucrats to change the programming focus to prevention and early intervention. Jane Philpott unveils six-point plan on First Nations child welfare system 8:32Programs for teen parents, rehabilitative family services, substance abuse treatment, warnings about fetal alcohol syndrome and other education campaigns are just some of the prevention programs used in some jurisdictions. David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation, said child welfare systems need not only more money but an Indigenous-led reforms to how they operate. Indigenous-Crown Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, who, until August 2017, oversaw the child welfare system, was reluctant to invest more money into a broken system in desperate need of reform .

Source: CBC News January 25, 2018 16:14 UTC