Advocate says Jordan’s theory has ‘not that many requests’ for care after years of delays

Advocates and health-care providers say they are concerned about First Nations children seeking services under Jordan’s principle, even after the Canadian government’s recent promise of $1.55 billion in funding.

Randy Littlechild, president and chair of the First Nations Health Consortium (FNHC) in Edmonton, which helps families with Jordan’s Principle applications, said he was pleased to see the promised funding but said there are still significant issues with children receiving services.

“Even though it’s a huge amount of money, $1.55 billion, that’s for the entire country,” Littlechild said.

He added that if you divided that amount among the more than 600 First Nations in Canada, each would receive less than $3 million.

“I can see it being swallowed very quickly,” he said.

In late February, the federal government promised Funding for Jordan’s principle to March 2027 after months of concerns about the future of the program.

The Jordan Principle is a legal rule that ensures that First Nations children have timely access to public health and social services without bureaucratic delays that the government (provincial/territorial or federal) must pay for.

Littlechild said last year FNHC saw a reduction in funding for dentists, occupational therapists and educational support. He said the backlog of undecided files still needed to be addressed.

CBC Indigenous first reported That there was a backlog of 140,000 requests.

In a statement regarding the announcement of the new funding, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society called the backlog “a violation of children’s human rights.”

“The Jordan Principle is not a program of goodwill – it is a court- and (Canadian Human Rights) Tribunal-affirmed legal obligation,” the statement said.

Littlechild said the last fiscal year saw a reduction in funding available for children in Alberta, from about $40 million to $12 million.

He said that this has brought a worrying change.

“We’ve noticed that people are starting to not request as many because they feel like it’s not happening,” Littlechild said.

“Earlier when everything was going well, they would make a request and we would respond to them within maybe three to four weeks… whereas now it can take six months, sometimes even a year.”

service providers are concerned

Bonnie Cook, director of audiology at Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC), said the organization was relieved to hear about the new funding, but she said the funding alone is not enough to address service concerns.

SAC conducted survey A survey of its 599 members last September found that about 60 percent had worked with Jordan’s principle recipients on things like providing speech and language therapy, hearing aids, assistive listening devices, or cochlear implants.

“For infants and children, any kind of delay in service can be really problematic,” Cook said.

“There’s a kind of window for language acquisition that is important in terms of getting treatment for speech and audiology services.”

For infants with hearing loss, waiting longer than the first three months could jeopardize language skills for the rest of their lives, she said.

According to Cook, the delay in care under Jordan’s doctrine can sometimes be between 12 and 24 months, although he said some care is provided more quickly than others.

Between waiting up to two years for a patient to be approved and months-long waits for reimbursement (Cook highlighted one provider who said he waited eight to 10 months for reimbursement), the delays can discourage care providers from taking Jordan’s principle patients, he said.

Cook said, “I know what our members have told us in terms of administrative issues, like not having anyone to talk to when issues come up; huge delays when they try to contact someone to get clarity on things.”

“I think there just needs to be a clear process.”

Cook said more needs to be done to ensure First Nations children have access to speech language pathologists, audiologists and communication health aides – especially in remote locations.