Ottawa failing to meet Jordan’s Principle deadlines for First Nations kids’ care most of the time – CBC

Apr 25, 2024

The policy is supposed to ensure timely access to health care, social services for vulnerable children

Indigenous Services Canada is taking longer to respond to urgent requests to get First Nations children access to medical care and social services and it’s putting lives at risk, critics say.

Under a program known as Jordan’s Principle, the federal department is supposed to process such urgent requests for medical care and social services within 12 hours. Experts say many children are likely to face irremediable harm if they don’t get assistance within that window.

New data shows the department often fails to provide this type of timely urgent care and met the 12-hour deadline only 33 per cent of the time during the 2022-23 fiscal year — a drop of 19 per cent since the year before.

The federal government provided the numbers in response to an order paper question submitted by NDP MP Charlie Angus, who shared the information with CBC News.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/isc-jordans-principle-first-nations-health-care-1.7182110