An Ontario judge has struck down a welfare program that would have forced Native people to work to get full social assistance.
First Nations were upset when the Ontario government tried to put welfare recipients in Aboriginal communities into the mandatory work-for-welfare program.
Murray Klippenstein, lawyer for the First Nations that sued Ontario, said the province was violating the inherent rights of First Nations to self-government.
The Mushkegowuk Council took its fight against the program to Ontario Superior Court and won a victory for all First Nations. “Our people were against it and it wasn’t workable or feasible for us to do (the program),” said Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Lawrence Martin.
The council was upset it was never consulted on workfare. Martin also said the government is ignoring the housing crisis that every First Nation suffers from.
“Young people are living in tents because if they live at home they’re not eligible for welfare. There are no homes just for single people in our communities,” said Martin.
Other problems are a lack of facilities to set up programs. To get training or the jobs workfare, people would have to move out of their own communities and this is unacceptable to band members, said Martin.
The judge agreed with the First Nations, saying in his judgement that Ontario law requires “meaningful consultation and explicit concurrence of the band councils and bands prior to implementation.” Without Native consent, such programs “are unenforceable.”
The judge ruled that First Nations didn’t agree to the workfare program. The judge pointed out that section 35 of the Constitution Act recognizes the inherent right of Aboriginal peoples to self-government on internal matters.
Forcing First Nations to do this would cause them to violate their own laws and invite “strife and administrative chaos.”
The Indian Act also says a power conferred upon a band doesn’t take effect until it’s consented to by a majority of voters in the band or by the consent of a majority of band councilors at a meeting.
Ontario had been trying to force Native bands to administer the workfare program.
Klippenstein said the federal government supported the province and “belittled” Aboriginal self-government. “This was a betrayal of the fine words the federal government has used from time to time and a betrayal of the federal responsibilities and duties to the First Nations,” he said.
Klippenstein said he couldn’t predict to what extent future court decisions would be influenced by this decision, “but it is a long overdue recognition of some of the principles of Euro-Canadian and First Nations responsibilities.”
Though this is an important victory for First Nations, the fight is far from over. Suzanne Bezuk, media relations officer for the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, said the government will appeal the decision, so all welfare recipients have “the opportunity to benefit from our mandatory work-for-welfare program.”
