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Information and Communication Infrastructure Resiliency: Summary of an expert roundtable

Download full summary here. Connectivity infrastructure, such as mobile and broadband connectivity, is critical infrastructure. Evolving environmental and geopolitical risks mean that Canada’s connectivity infrastructure is becoming increasingly vulnerable to disasters, such as, wildfires, and cyber threats. This poses a challenge as connectivity disruptions can result in significant cascading costs and repercussions. Consider the 2022

Payukotayno James & Hudson Bay Family Services

Payukotayno James & Hudson Bay Family Services (Payukotayno) is a Children’s Aid Society serving all community members – both First Nation and non-Indigenous – on- and off-reserve, including a municipality and a local area services board, along the western coast of James and Hudson Bay, geographically prescribed by the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, of approximately 8,000 people. For 40 years, the agency has provided a range of services including, child welfare, children’s and youth’s mental health services, foster and customary care, adoption, and prevention services.

Sagkeeng CFS Block funding and accountability

Since 2019, Manitoba child and family services agencies have been operating under block funding, i.e., single envelope funding. From the outset, the block was underfunded. For many agencies in the province, the block has a negative connotation because of its association to reduced funding.  However, Sagkeeng Child and Family Services (SCFS) embraced the challenge of working with the block.  The agency had to change the dynamic of its spending to meet the parameters of the block approach.  Its efforts enhanced flexibility in decision-making and accountability to its First Nations.

The lessons from SCFS’s experience with the provincial block are relevant as funding approach reforms for the federal First Nations child and family services Program are being negotiated. In a federal context, should a block approach be adopted it would be expected that the resources in a block would be commensurate to agency mandates, i.e., not underfunded as in the case of Manitoba.

The block approach:

  1. Means autonomy as a service provider.
  2. Enables allocations to meet service delivery needs.
  3. Requires accountable planning.

Why Measuring Matters

This research was produced at the request of IFSD to support ongoing research in First Nations child and family services. IFSD's work is undertaken through a contract with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). The views and analysis of the independent authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the AFN or IFSD.

Intergenerational Trauma To Intergenerational Transmission

This  first person narrative was produced at the request of IFSD to support ongoing research in First Nations child and family services. IFSD's work is undertaken through a contract with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). The views and analysis of the independent authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the AFN or IFSD.