Ernest Anderson, the father of the late Jordan River Anderson, took to social media Tuesday in a video condemning abuse of the program named after his son meant to help First Nations children with certain needs.
In 2005, Jordan River Anderson died of multiple disabilities in a Winnipeg hospital more than 800 km from his home in Norway House Cree Nation because the provincial and federal governments couldn’t agree on who should pay for his specialized care.
The boy’s legacy is Jordan’s Principle, which was to ensure that on-reserve First Nations children get their health, social and educational needs met the same as off-reserve and non-Indigenous children.
But Ernest Anderson says the program is no longer working as intended and doesn’t serve his son’s memory well.
“We need to talk. We need some answers. We need a meeting,” Anderson said in a video Tuesday.
“We need your support, people across Canada — stand up with us… if your kid was to be used like that, you wouldn’t like it.”
He addressed an elephant in the room, too — concerns that the program is abused and not properly managed.
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Federal government statistics show between 2021-22 and 2022-23, ‘urgent’ requests grew by over 900 per cent while other requests grew by 88 per cent.
More than 100,000 funding requests a year are made through Jordan’s Principle.
Last year, Deputy Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations Valerie Gideon sounded the alarm about some of the requests bogging down the system.
In an affidavit, she listed some of the requests for funding made through Jordan’s Principle, including for modelling headshots, a zip lining kit, trampoline, music lessons, private school tuition and uniforms, snowmobiles and gaming consoles.
A sign posted on the door of a Jordan’s Principle office in Winnipeg said as of Dec.20 it “no longer has funds.” Many chiefs and advocates, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, have called it a crisis.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu says nearly $9 billion has been spent on goods and services through Jordan’s Principle since 2016.
Canada is going to court to challenge a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling that ordered them to immediately process a backlog of 140,000 Jordan’s Principle claims.
The Anderson family has joined a chorus of others concerned that many in limbo are for children with legitimate needs, lost in a sea of requests for frivolous things and overall mismanagement of the program.
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