Funding changes harming Indigenous children in rural areas, Sault group warns

Alana Macintyre and her staff at the Spark Rehabilitation Centre in the Sault say a lack of funding is forcing layoffs and harming service to clients.

Alana MacIntyre, owner of Spark Rehabilitation in the Sault, is up in arms over changes to Jordan’s Principle that have forced layoffs of nearly half of her staff.

MacIntyre said the vast majority of those layoffs are for workers in rural areas, whose clients will soon no longer have services close to home.

Jordan’s Principle is a human rights principle established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to ensure First Nations children do not face gaps, delays or denials in accessing government services because of their identity as First Nations children.

Half of the clients at Spark for services through Indigenous Services Canada’s Jordan’s Principle. Now, those applications are being stalled, as the government states they can only be approved by a national review committee.

“Last week I sent an email asking, you know, when will this file be adjudicated?” MacIntyre said.

“I have a family asking, we can’t give you we can’t give you timelines. And yet on the website, it says five days. We’ve been waiting for over a year.”

She said the 224 stalled applications relate to nearly 175 Indigenous clients, mostly for speech pathology, occupational therapy and behaviour supports that MacIntyre said should fall under the new parameters for funding.

The centre has had to lay off 30 staff from Pic Mobert to Sturgeon Falls who work with clients in their communities. That means those clients will be without the services they require.

“The suffering that we see on a day-to-day basis with our families, I wish that the people in Ottawa could see it and understand that when they don’t adjudicate a file, it’s not an ISC number,” MacIntyre said.

“It’s a child, it’s a family.”

MacIntyre said that the federal government told her last Friday that she would not be paid retroactively for clients on Jordan’s Principle contracts. She said that her business is owed roughly $300,000 from Indigenous Services Canada.

“It’s so unethical to these children and families,” MacIntyre said.

“The government is now saying they’re not going to pay me for a contract that they approved and provided me, you know, written emails stating that I could continue until the file was depleted. I don’t know how somebody is allowed to do that.”

Sent a statement

Indigenous Services Canada responded with a statement Friday:

“​We are aware of the delays and are working diligently to reduce the backlog while ensuring new requests are also being reviewed. ISC cannot comment on the service provider’s situation. Please contact the service provider directly if you have further questions."

“Every Jordan’s Principle request differs both in the amount of time and effort required to review the request, as well as varying in complexity. Each request is considered on a case-by-case basis, along with the required documentation for the request while taking into account the distinct needs of the child/children and gaps in other programs or services.”

“However, out of respect for the privacy of children and youth receiving products and services through Jordan’s Principle, we cannot provide information about specific requests.”

“Our priority is to make sure First Nations children have equal access to the essential government services that they need.”