QUESTION PERIOD — Indigenous Services
Indigenous Youth in Care
October 28, 2025
Welcome, minister. In 2020, An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families came into force. This act allows for Indigenous Services to work with Indigenous groups who wish to design and deliver their child and family services.
Minister, according to the latest stats from Statistics Canada, over 50% of the children in care are Indigenous, despite the fact that Indigenous children represent less than 8% of the total child population in Canada. Also, according to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, youth from the child welfare system are at much greater risk of becoming involved with the juvenile criminal justice system, a process referred to as the child-welfare-to-prison pipeline.
Indigenous people continue to be overrepresented in prison, as you know, with 40% of youth admissions in correctional institutions being Indigenous. In your new capacity as Minister of Indigenous Services, and we’re —
Senator Coyle, I’m sorry. Thank you.
Thank you. This is one of the priority files in my office.
As minister, I believe it is with urgency we must act with our partners to address the children who are living with the reality of the impact of trauma in the community, with the challenges of being removed from home.
I’m sorry; it’s very personal to me because I am impacted by people in my family being involved in this situation. For me, I am going to speak to what I can. This is in front of the tribunal right now. I’m engaging, and I’ve spoken to many communities in the summer. There is an urgency. We have come up with a strategy that I think will respond to those needs.
I want to let the Senate know there is progress on this file. I am committed. My greatest priority is to meet the deadline put in place for December 20.
Thank you. In the recent Auditor General’s reports, Auditor General Hogan said that Indigenous Services Canada does not give enough support to increasing First Nations capacity to deliver programs and takes a “passive and siloed approach” to supporting those communities. With this in mind, and with the implementation of the act we spoke about, could you provide the Senate with some examples of what your department is already doing to increase the capacity of Indigenous nations, communities and organizations to deliver their own programs?
Thank you. First, I want to start by saying it is clear for me the government is sending a strong signal of the urgency of ensuring that First Nations are able to make decisions for themselves in a First Nations context, working with a First Nations person. This is a strong approach. I am pleased to be a part of the government doing that.
I myself, in all of my files, have prioritized ensuring we respond to our partners in a timely way, ensuring internally, within the department, that we are respecting capacity building as our key core competency in service delivery.
