'It's illegal and it has to stop': Child welfare agencies file affidavit in court case against province

A group of Indigenous child welfare agencies has laid out its case arguing the Manitoba government has broken the law by forcing the agencies to turn over millions of federal dollars intended for children in care.

On Monday, the group of six First Nations and Métis child and family services agencies filed a sworn affidavit to the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, as evidence in its court case against the province that started in April.

The document spells out the argument behind the group's claim that Manitoba's decade-old practice of forcing agencies to remit money from Ottawa's children's special allowance is immoral and against the law.

"The applicants in this case are simply asking for a court to tell them what they already know: that it's illegal and that it has to stop," said Shawn Scarcello, the group's lawyer.

The children's special allowance is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency to agencies that apply for it.

The affidavit points to the Children's Special Allowances Act that states the money "shall be applied exclusively toward the care, maintenance, education, training or advancement of the child in respect of whom it is paid."

The document also includes provincial financial documents showing money remitted by agencies going into general revenue, following a change to policy under the NDP government in 2006.

In total, the province has funnelled more than $255 million in funding earmarked for the agencies into the government's general revenue, the affidavit says, in part by forcing agencies to remit special allowance funds and in part by withholding provincial funding to recoup the money when agencies refused to remit.

The notice of application against the province was filed to Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench in April on behalf of Animikii Ozoson Child and Family Services, Sandy Bay Child and Family Services, Peguis Child and Family Services, Southeast Child and Family Services, Michif Child and Family Services and Metis Child, Family and Community Services.

The affidavit filed Monday was sworn by Richard De La Ronde, executive director of Sandy Bay Child and Family Services, and submitted on behalf of the group. Scarcello said it's the only affidavit the group will submit.

A provincial spokesperson said the province can't comment on the case as it remains before the courts.

Children in care 'legally entitled to benefit' from federal funding: lawyer

According to provincial numbers from 2016-17, Manitoba has over 11,300 children in care, almost 90 per cent of whom are Indigenous. 

The affidavit points to comments made by Education Minister Ian Wishart before the Progressive Conservative government took power.

Prior to the party winning the April 2016 provincial election, Wishart criticized the practice in the Manitoba Legislature.

A Hansard transcript of a House debate from February 2016 shows Wishart describing the policy as "illegal, immoral clawbacks," and saying the result is "severely underfunded agencies."

"How does this government steal the future of these most vulnerable children and call that fair?" Wishart is quoted as saying in the transcript.

Last March, Families Minister Scott Fielding committed to reviewing the practice, but didn't promise to end it.

At the time, he said the province already covers care and education-related costs for kids in care and the allowance is a "duplication."

Scarcello disagreed.

"It is funding that these children are entitled to the benefit of — legally entitled to benefit from," he said Monday.

"And the province of Manitoba is taking that funding and they are then converting it into other uses."