Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Witness spoke in Michif]

[English]

I just introduced myself in Michif, my maternal language.

Good afternoon, committee members, and thank you for the invitation to participate in your pre-budget consultations this year.

I'm the director of governance and strategy at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. We're an urban indigenous agency providing a wide range of services to indigenous children and families in the greater Toronto area. The programming we offer families is designed around a holistic, culturally grounded service model, which has allowed us to effectively support Toronto's indigenous community since 1986. After almost 40 years, Native Child has come a long way and has grown considerably. Today we serve, through 164 programs, over 8,000 community members in the region, and to do this work we rely on funding from the Government of Canada to deliver our programming and to maintain critical data management and administrative systems behind the scenes, ensuring principles of ownership, control, access and possession are honoured and respected.

As many members of this committee are aware, the majority of indigenous people in Canada, over 64.5%, live off reserve or outside of their communities, and many are located in urban environments like Toronto. The children and families we serve reflect this reality. We're proud to assist first nations, Métis and Inuit people from across Canada, working to ensure they receive the same level of support in Toronto that they would receive at home—at minimum.

These pre-budget consultations are taking place during a really pivotal time for first nations child and family service providers. The agreement in principle on long-term reform of the first nations child and family services program and Jordan's principle stands to deliver transformative levels of new funding that will enable on-reserve first nations child and family services agencies to restore their jurisdiction over child and family services on reserves. At Native Child, we understand this as an incredible moment. After decades of hard-fought advocacy and self-determination, arriving at this point, when first nations are gaining control and access to their child and family services, is huge. It's immense.

Historically, this funding was made available to first nations children and the child and family well-being agencies that serve them, including agencies like ours—urban indigenous agencies. However, in the current iteration, we understand that the final agreement for long-term reform currently up for discussion will be dedicated to on-reserve first nations children and youth only and will no longer be accessible to agencies serving first nations people living in urban centres. Native Child would like to continue to receive guaranteed annual funding from the federal government and some assurances that our existing funding will continue beyond 2026.

Native Child plays a critical role in filling service gaps for indigenous children and their families living in Toronto that cannot be addressed currently by on-reserve agencies. Without guaranteed annual funding, it will be incredibly challenging for organizations like Native Child and other urban indigenous agencies to continue providing adequate support to families in need—support that families deserve and should be receiving without any hesitation.

We fear that this funding shortfall we currently face could mean that more than 4,000 indigenous children and youth in the GTA alone may lose access to the preventative supports they rely on from our agency. Hundreds of children could be at risk of entering or remaining in the child welfare system, and we're all well aware of the potential impacts and harms of that.

The good news is that these outcomes can all be avoided through proactive investments in our agency and agencies like ours—urban indigenous agencies. Through $15 million in renewable annual funding from the Government of Canada, Native Child will have the assurance we need to continue providing the care and support so many community members rely on each and every day. This funding will allow us not only to meet the needs of today but also to plan for the needs of tomorrow with confidence. In our community, we understand that it's incredibly important to plant the seeds now for the seven generations to come, and that's why we are seeking partnership with the government today.

Budget 2025 presents an opportunity for the federal government to ensure that its commitment to decolonizing child and family services is applied universally to all agencies, regardless of where they're located. I remind folks again that 65.4% of indigenous people are living in urban centres like Toronto, so this is a critical need. An investment in Native Child is a critical step in making this commitment from the government a reality.

Thank you once again for your time and consideration. We, of course, welcome any questions you may have and look forward to more discussion. Meegwetch.