page_title: Jordan's Principle
section_title: Canadian human rights case
hierarchical_section_title: Jordan's Principle / Canadian human rights case
caption_attribution_description: English: An information poster describing how to access public services and supports through Jordan's Principle.
context_page_description: Jordan's Principle is a child-first and needs-based principle used in Canada to ensure that First Nations children living on and off reserve have equitable access to all government funded public services. It holds that First Nations children should not be denied access to public services while governments fight over who should pay. In order to ensure substantive equality, this can also include services that are not ordinarily available to other children. According to the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada, the organization that hosts the Jordan's Principle campaign:
  Jordan’s Principle ensures that First Nations children can access all public services when they need them. Services need to be culturally-based and take into full account the historical disadvantage linked to colonization that many First Nations children live with. The government of first contact pays for the service and resolves jurisdictional/payment disputes later.
  Jordan's Principle is reflective of the non-discrimination provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Canadian domestic law that does not allow differential treatment on the basis of race or ethnic origin.
context_section_description: In January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, a Canadian legal institution with a mandate to adjudicate cases where there has been an alleged breach of the Canadian Human Rights Act, found that the Government of Canada's improper implementation of Jordan's Principle resulted in discrimination against First Nations children and youth on the basis of race and national ethnic origin and ordered the Government of Canada to "cease applying its narrow definition of Jordan’s Principle and to take measures to immediately implement the full meaning and scope of Jordan’s Principle."
  Since January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has issued nine remedial non-compliance orders against Canada for failing to abide by the original decision and implement the proper definition of Jordan's Principle.The fourth non-compliance order was issued in May 2017 after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that the Government of Canada continued to repeat "its pattern of conduct and narrow focus with respect to Jordan’s Principle." Twenty-two additional legal orders in regards to Jordan's Principle were made at this time.
  The fifth non-compliance order was issued by the Tribunal in November 2017 to provide amended orders to the May 2017 order. Per the non-compliance order, the Tribunal ordered the federal government to:
  Apply Jordan's Principle to all First Nations children under local age of majority living on and off reserve;
  Apply Jordan's Principle based on the needs of the child, not just what is typically available to other children (normative standard of care); and
  Ensure that administrative procedures do not delay service provision.
  The Tribunal also ordered the federal government to follow specific timeframes when making a determination on a request:
  Individual cases:
  Urgent: within 12 hours
  Non-urgent: within 48 hours
  Group cases:
  Urgent: within 48 hours
  Non-urgent: within 1 week
  The seventh non-compliance order, an interim relief order, was issued in February 2019. The Tribunal ordered the federal government to provide non-status First Nations children who are recognized members of their First Nation and who have urgent or life-threatening needs services under Jordan's Principle.
  The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a ninth non-compliance order in September 2019. The Tribunal ruled that First Nations children and their families would receive the maximum compensation through the Canadian Human Rights Act ($40,000) for Canada's "wilful and reckless" discrimination, referring to it as a worst-case scenario under the Act. Canada has been ordered to compensate certain First Nations children, and their parents or grandparents, who were affected by the discriminatory treatment in child welfare services since January 1, 2006 or were denied or experienced delays in services covered under Jordan's Principle since November 2, 2017. 
  The Government of Canada submitted a judicial review of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal compensation order to the Federal Court in October 2019. Canada was seeking an order to quash all financial compensation and a motion to stay the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal proceedings until the Federal Court makes a decision on the judicial review. Hearings were held in November 2019 and Canada's stay motion was denied soon after.
  Alanis Obomsawin's 2016 documentary film We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice argues that the federal government has fought applying Jordan's Principle to such a degree that an $11-million fund set aside to cover its costs was never used. Anderson was also the subject of Obomsawin's 2019 film Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger.
caption: Jordan's Principle Information Poster June 29, 2018
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