Summary: Jordan's Principle was developed in
response to the death of Jordan River Anderson. He died in 2005 at five years
old. In his short life, he was eligible for home-care, but the federal and
provincial governments could not agree on who was financially responsible,
meaning he spent his entire life in hospital.
Jordan's Principle is a child-first approach with the intention of providing First Nations children, both on and off-reserve, the same access to government health and social services that are available to all other non-Indigenous children. It requires that the first level of government that a First Nation citizen contacts is responsible to provide that service.
The goal is to prevent First Nations children from being denied essential public services and to prevent delays in receiving them. By utilizing a child-first approach, jurisdictional disputes involving the care of First Nations children should not affect their access to treatment. The AFN has summarized the key points to Jordan's Principle in the following terms:
Because responsibility for First Nations children’s
services is often shared among federal, provincial/ territorial and First
Nations governments, accessing certain services can be challenging. Funding
disputes between federal and provincial governments, or between federal
departments, are not uncommon, and can result in delays that unfairly affect
children’s health and well-being. Jordan’s Principle requires the government of
first contact to provide the service, and then resolve the funding issue. As
such, Jordan’s Principle is a mechanism to help ensure children’s human,
constitutional, and treaty rights" (source)
