London, Ontario, February 27th, 2025 – On Wednesday February 26th the Chiefs of Ontario hosted a Special Chiefs Assembly (SCA) to discuss the Final Agreement on the Long-Term Reform of the First Nations Child and Family Servies (FNCFS) program. The draft received approval and will begin the road to implementation of the reforms.
Grand Chief Joel Abram says “This Agreement came about due to conflicting opinions with First Nations from other provinces and if this action was not pursued then it could stand to reason that a lot of work would have been for nothing. This avenue was our only other option as Ontario Chiefs did not want to see the potential loss of over $8.5 billion in funds that could help so many Indigenous Peoples, communities and the reform of a system that caused so much damage to our Peoples for so many years.”
Deputy Grand Chief Stacia Loft says “The only frustration I have is that it took this long for change like this to happen and even then there was the possibility that it not come to pass. Thankfully Ontario Chiefs opted to discuss a way going forward for the sake of the families and their Nations in order to make the necessary changes ourselves. These funds will go towards a new reformed system that will be looked after Indigenous Peoples as should have happened a long time ago in the first place.”
Moving ahead the next steps will be to work with Canada on Implementing the reforms and funneling the necessary funds to where they need to go in accordance with the Ontario Final Agreement and Trilateral Agreement Reform.
